German Tourist Wins $3 Million Florida Lottery Prize
Wednesday March 2nd 2016A German tourist has won a Florida Lottery prize worth $3 million during his vacation in the state. Wolfgang Gose, 60, of Berlin, bought the winning $600,000,000 GOLD RUSH scratcher at a Publix store in Miami Beach and defied odds of 1 in 4,032,000 to claim the top prize. Gose picked up his check at Florida Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee, opting to receive the one-off cash amount of $2.3 million rather than an annuity payment.
The $600,000,000 GOLD RUSH ticket has been a feature of the Florida Lottery since it was launched in September 2014. Players pay $20 for the scratch-off and have a 1 in 2.95 chance of claiming any prize, with awards ranging from £20 to the jackpot of $3 million. Of an initial ten top prizes on offer throughout the state, two remain available for players to uncover.
Gose is not the first foreign national to win a life changing prize in a US lottery game; an anonymous Iraqi man banked $6.4 million on Oregon Megabucks in August 2015, having bought his ticket from his home in Baghdad through an online lottery concierge service. The winner, who was given special dispensation to keep his identity secret to protect his family, was able to claim the prize in person in December after sorting out a visa for entry into the US.
The Florida Lottery runs a series of statewide draw games like Florida Lotto and Lucky Money, as well as providing players with the chance to win nine or ten figure sums on Powerball and Mega Millions. Scratch-offs are a large part of the lottery’s offering, responsible for two thirds of all sales and helping contribute to the $29 billion raised for educational programs in the state.
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