Florida woman wins $1M lottery after nearly throwing away winning ticket

A Florida woman won a million dollar prize thanks to a lottery ticket she nearly threw away.

Jill Rowell, 52, of Grand Ridge, Florida, bought a $50 lottery game this week at a gas station and Super Snead’s store in Sneads, Florida, according to a press release from the Florida Lottery.

Rowell told the Florida Lottery that she was preparing to throw away the winning ticket, but a passer-by advised her to review it again.

“I scanned the ticket at the machine and you can tell it was definitely an ‘exciting’ surprise,” she said in a statement. “I drove right over here, and yes, I want a photo.”

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Rowell collected her winnings and check at the Florida Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee on Monday, March 6, as seen in a photo from the lottery board.

The city of Tallahassee is about an hour from Super Snead’s located on Highway 90.

Rowell played the Florida Lottery’s new $1,000,000 a year for a spectacular life game.

In February 2023, the Florida Lottery debuted a scratch game that offers winners the opportunity to claim $1 million a year for life or a one-time $1 million payment.

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Rowell decided to receive her lottery winnings as a lump sum. She walked away with $640,000 after taxes, according to the Florida Lottery.

Super Snead’s, the store that sold Rowell’s ticket, will receive a $2,000 bonus for selling the winning scratch off.

The Florida Lottery says its $1,000,000 A Year For Life Spectacular lottery is limited to two $1 million lifetime annuity payouts and 234 $1 million lump sum payouts.

The Florida Lottery reports that between the two selections in the time-limited scratch game, winners will receive more than $1.6 billion.

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The Florida Lottery reports that A Year For Life Spectacular players with a prize pool of $1,000,000 have a “1 in 4.50” chance of winning a cash prize.

“Scratch games are an important part of lottery portfolio games, including approximately 77 ticket sales in fiscal year 2021-2022,” the Lottery Council said in a press release. “Since inception, Scratch-Off games have contributed over $17.69 billion to the Education Development Trust Fund.”

Overall, the Florida Lottery says it has invested more than $43 billion in public educational programs through its scratch games and lottery draws.

More than 950,000 college students who received a merit-based scholarship through the Bright Futures Scholarship Program, which is funded by Florida Lottery. The scholarship program began in 1997.

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The Florida Lottery was founded in 1988 and has reportedly paid out over $85.8 billion in cash prizes to over 3,500 lottery winners.

Over 13,000 retailers sell Florida Lottery tickets in the Sunshine State.