The Florida Lottery is cashing in on a popularity surge in playing the lottery.
Lottery officials are offering a series of holiday scratch-off tickets with names like "Gingerbread Dough" and encouraging folks to buy them as stocking stuffers.
That's right – lottery tickets as Christmas gifts! It could well be the gift that keeps giving for the lucky winners.
Florida lottery ticket sales already are at an all-time high. Last week's mega Powerball jackpot of more than $500 million brought thousands of new players to the lottery, officials say. One-day sales of tickets in Florida on Wednesday, Nov. 28, the day of the drawing, topped $49 million.
“In our nearly 25 years of operations, the Florida Lottery has never seen a week like we saw last week,” said Florida Lottery Secretary Cynthia O’Connell.
With the surge of interest in playing the lottery, lottery officials are encouraging folks to buy special lottery scratch-off tickets as holiday gifts.
Here is information from the Florida Lottery web site:
"For just $1, you can purchase HOLIDAY CASH. The $2 Scratch-Off games HAPPY HOLIDAYS and the wonderfully scented GINGERBREAD DOUGH feature top prizes of $25,000 each. The $5 game HOLIDAY MAGIC offers top prizes of $250,000. Or, play the $10 game $1,000,000 WISHES for the chance to win $1 million!
"Lottery retailers will also provide specially-designed holiday gift envelopes for purchases of $5 or more, so customers can buy and "wrap" their Florida Lottery gifts with just one stop."
The Florida Lottery reinvests nearly 98 percent of evenue into the state’s economy through prize payouts, contributions to education, and money paid to Florida retailers, according to the lottery website.
Where to buy a ticket:
Go to Florida Lottery's website and enter your zip code for a list of retailers near you.
According to the seach, the following locations in Dunedin sell the tickets:
Bayshore Boulevard
- Bayshore Breeze Market & Grill
- Munchees Express #3
- St. George Gas Service
Broadway
- Super Shop
Belcher Road
- Dunedin Mobil
- Smart Value Mini-Mart
Causeway Boulevard
- The Inn
County Road 1
- First Choice Food & Deli 2
- Winn Dixie
Curlew Road
- Publix at Caladesi Shopping Center
Pinehurst Road
- B & N Food Mart
- Oasis Express
Main Street
- Rally Market & Gas
- Main Street Shell
- Mylan Asian Market & Gift
- Publix at Granada Plaza
- Sweetbay Supermarket
- Sweetbay Liquor
- Walmart Neighborhood Market
Overcash Drive
- K-Citi Food Mart
Patricia Avenue
- Discount Beverage
- Dodge's Chicken Store
- Dunedin Lanes
- Luekens Liquors
San Christopher Drive
- Blue Jays Grocery & Deli
Union Street
- Munchees Express #2
Here are the holiday games:
Game Price Top Prize Overall Odds Holiday Cash $1.00 $1,000 1-in-4.86 Happy Holidays $2.00 $25,000 1-in-4.36 Gingerbread Dough $2.00 $25,000 1-in-4.38 Holiday Magic $5.00 $250,000 1-in-4.05 $1,000,000 Wishes $10.00 $1,000,000 1-in-3.26