Starke man claims $1 million lottery ticket

BY DAN HILDEBRAN

Monitor Editor

STARKE— The Florida Lottery said a Starke man has won $880,000 after redeeming a $1 million ticket from the Billion Dollar Gold Rush Supreme scratch-off game.

Ryan Sodek purchased his winning ticket from Winn-Dixie, located at 470 West Madison Street in Starke. The retailer will receive a $2,000 bonus commission for selling the winning ticket.

Instead of receiving periodic payments totaling $1 million, Sodek chose to receive his prize in one lump-sum payment.

The lottery said it launched the Billion Dollar Gold Rush Supreme in February 2021. The game features four top prizes of $15 million and 24 prizes of $1 million. The overall odds of winning are 1 in 2.59.

“Scratch-off games are an important part of the Lottery’s portfolio of games,” the Lottery said in a news release, “comprising approximately 77 percent of ticket sales in the fiscal year 2021-2022.

The Lottery said that since their inception, scratch-off games have generated more than $17.06 billion for the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund.