Florida man has both cars break down, wins $1 million in lottery

May 26, 2021, 10:50 am (14 comments)

Florida Lottery

Big win could not have come at a better time

By Kate Northrop

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A man who had been having rather unfortunate car troubles finally experienced a lucky turn of events when he won a $1 million top prize from a Florida Lottery scratch-off game.

Curtis Fuller, 38, of Jacksonville, was having a streak of bad luck when both his and his wife's cars broke down within days of each other. However, he was served up an instant bout of good karma when he decided to play the Florida Lottery's "50X The Cash" scratch-off game and took home one of the $1 million top prizes.

Fuller bought the winning ticket for $5 from First Coast Energy on Duval Station Road in Jacksonville. According to him, that ticket came into his life just in time.

"My wife's car broke down a few days ago, and two days after that my truck broke down," Fuller said.

The lucky winner visited Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee and claimed his $1 million top prize as a one-time lump sum payment of $890,000 before taxes. While Fuller plans to purchase a home with the well-timed winnings, it's no surprise that he's also looking into some new cars as well.

"In addition to buying a new house, this money will help us purchase two new vehicles!" he exclaimed.

Now that Fuller has claimed his winnings, there are currently five top prizes of $1 million left to claim in the "50X The Cash" game out of the 15 originally available at the game's launch in September 2020. There are also 232 second prizes of $10,000 and 1140 third prizes of $2,000 remaining.

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

billybucks

Well that prize is already spent. Not that there is anything wrong with buying a house and two new cars but that will easily cost him the whole prize. A halfway decent house goes for around 400k down there and the cars will cost him the remainder.

Bleudog101

No state tax on his big win!

winterhug

Wow, I still can't get over $5 Florida scratch-offs having a top prizes of 1 million dollars. My state $5 scratch-offs top prizes are 50K. The $20 scratch-offs have 1 million dollar tops prizes and the $30 scratch-offs have 2 million dollar top prizes

noise-gate

Quote: Originally posted by winterhug on May 26, 2021

Wow, I still can't get over $5 Florida scratch-offs having a top prizes of 1 million dollars. My state $5 scratch-offs top prizes are 50K. The $20 scratch-offs have 1 million dollar tops prizes and the $30 scratch-offs have 2 million dollar top prizes

That's nothing winterhug: We have a $5.00 " Set for life " scratcher out here who's top prize is " $3,000,000" or $10,000 a month for 25 years!

Mata Garbo

So Happy for this guy and his wife. Car breaks down and you win a million bucks. The last time my car broke down I stepped out to take a look and saw a car coming from the other direction heading straight for me. It was a drunk driver who had come across the grass lane divider and was head my way. I heard people blowing their horns at me because they thought that i did not see the car coming but I did and jumped into a ditch. The drunk driver hit the front of my jeep, but the impact did more damage to his car than mine. The good news was he at least had insurance and he was very nice and apologized several times. Sometimes your car break down and you win a million bucks......sometimes your car breaks down and you end up in a ditch on the side the road ....that's life.

noise-gate

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on May 26, 2021

That's nothing winterhug: We have a $5.00 " Set for life " scratcher out here who's top prize is " $3,000,000" or $10,000 a month for 25 years!

Oh Winterhug, to further leave your heart in ruins: 

We have a $10.00 " Set for life" scratcher that has a top prize of "$20,000 a month for 25 years."

MsBee18

Quote: Originally posted by winterhug on May 26, 2021

Wow, I still can't get over $5 Florida scratch-offs having a top prizes of 1 million dollars. My state $5 scratch-offs top prizes are 50K. The $20 scratch-offs have 1 million dollar tops prizes and the $30 scratch-offs have 2 million dollar top prizes

You may want to consider moving to Florida. Florida sells millions of tickets at $5 a pop. It's nothing for them to pay those measly prizes; and still find education too.

increase's avatarincrease

Great story with a very happy ending.

I may get me a couple of scratchers today.

godisgood's avatargodisgood

Well, if the take home is around $890,000 then a $400,000 dollar home and $100,000 on cars would still leave him with $390,000.

Bleudog101

Quote: Originally posted by godisgood on May 27, 2021

Well, if the take home is around $890,000 then a $400,000 dollar home and $100,000 on cars would still leave him with $390,000.

$890K BEFORE Federal taxes...OK mathematicians out there, what would he end up after his tax bite?  Still whatever it is much better off than he was before winning!

rcbbuckeye's avatarrcbbuckeye

Not knowing what his deductions are, if any, but I usually just figure on a million dollar prize like MM or PB (or the jackpot) that federal tax would be 37%.

CDanaT's avatarCDanaT

Quote: Originally posted by rcbbuckeye on May 27, 2021

Not knowing what his deductions are, if any, but I usually just figure on a million dollar prize like MM or PB (or the jackpot) that federal tax would be 37%.

You better win this year because next year, you know who takes a bigger bite of that newly acquired wealth.

billybucks

Quote: Originally posted by godisgood on May 27, 2021

Well, if the take home is around $890,000 then a $400,000 dollar home and $100,000 on cars would still leave him with $390,000.

890k minus 37% leaves you with a paltry 560,700. Ok, house prices in Jacksonville are low, real low. You can get a decent house for 300k in a less than desirable neighborhood maybe. The cars maybe 60k for two of them. So I suppose it would work but I would rethink it and just put a down payment on the house and save the rest.

sully16's avatarsully16

Great story, glad he can get new cars.

End of comments
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