Mr. Lucky

Ocala man benefits when raffle ticket expires

Posted: 15 Nov 2011 06:47 AM PST

It’s one thing to miss a winning ticket when it’s a free Quick Pick.

It’s an entirely different matter to fork over $20 for a Florida Lottery raffle ticket and then not check it.

But that may have happened with one of the $700,000 winners in the Florida Lottery’s Lucky 7 Raffle.

Six of the big winners were redeemed. But a ticket bought at the Lottery’s district office in Tampa expired earlier this month.

The top-level prizes are guaranteed to be awarded, so the first ticket drawn as a $70,000 winner won the big prize.

That lucky person was Paul Poppenberg, 62, of Ocala.

In the drawing, held on May 5, 784 winning numbers were randomly selected. Tickets with the first seven numbers drawn were worth $700,000; tickets with the next seven numbers were worth $70,000; tickets with the next 70 numbers drawn were worth $700; and tickets with the final 700 numbers drawn were worth $70.

Players holding tickets with the winning numbers had 180 days from the date of the drawing to claim their prizes.

So did the ticket-holder forget to check his number? Maybe he accidently threw it away or left it in his pocket when he did the wash. Whatever the case, $700,000 took a trip from Tampa to Ocala.