Ray Chavez of Zephyrhills Won 1 Million Dollars Playing My Favorite Scratch Off Ticket

Author Joe Winner

May 12th, 2023 1:25 PM

I love the new $1,000,000 A YEAR FOR LIFE SPECTACULAR ticket from the Florida Lottery. Unfortunately, since it’s a $50 ticket I don’t play it very often. Lucky for Ray Chavez of Zephyrhills, Florida. He DID play it. Ray purchased his winning ticket at Publix, located at 32765 Eiland Boulevard in Wesley Chapel. No word on whether he got his ticket from the machine or from someone working the counter. I always wonder if that makes a difference. He chose to receive his winnings as a one-time, lump-sum payment of $640,000.00.

This is why I like this ticket. According to the Florida Lottery, “The new $50 Scratch-Off game, $1,000,000 A YEAR FOR LIFE SPECTACULAR, launched in February and features two top prizes of $1 million a year for life and 234 prizes of $1 million! Additionally, this ticket is filled with more than $1.6 billion in cash prizes! The game’s overall odds of winning are 1-in-4.50.” And both of the grand prizes have yet to be claimed. So I have a chance…..

When I play I want to win big, or not at all. That’s what this game is. And Ray Chavez just inspired me to hit up Publix after work and get a ticket at the Estero store near my house. The Buffalo Chicken Tender Subs are on sale this week so it looks like it’s dinner and a chance at a million dollars a year for life.

New List: Florida Lottery Scratch Off Tickets You Might Want To Avoid

I love reporting on big wins when people hit jackpots on Florida Lottery scratch off tickets. I want that to be me! So when I was at Publix in Fort Myers last night I went to the Florida Lottery machine and fed it 20 bucks. Hey, if you want to win 5 million you got to bet big. I pressed the button with the most eye catching 20 dollar ticket and took it home. Guess what? I didn’t win. And I found out later that I probably wouldn’t. You see, the Florida Lottery tracks all of the winning tickets on their website and of the 8 – 5 million dollar winning tickets, 7 of them were already gone. I should have gone with a different ticket to have better odds.

Unfortunately for us, buying scratchers can be a bit of an impulse buy. “I like this one”. But you should really treat it as a financial decision. It is money we’re trying to win. Please keep in mind I’m not telling you which tickets you should play, or if you should play at all. You do you. Just because a ticket only has one big winner left doesn’t mean it’s not sitting in a counter at a gas station in Lehigh. The fact is, we don’t know. This is just math.

Take for instance the $50 – 500X the cash in the picture.

There’s two $25 million dollar grand prize tickets. A guy in Bonita Springs claimed one of them, so there’s still one out there. Of the 160 $1 million dollar prizes, only 19 remain. Two of those winners were announced this past week.

So with the help of the Florida Lottery website, let’s discuss which scratch off tickets you might want to avoid if you’re looking to hit it big. What fun is it to play if you can’t win big? Also, we’ll take a look at which scratch off games have the most big winners left in the pot. You want to win big and get that Lambo? Let’s do this.

This list is from 5/3/2023. As more winners happen, and more games are announced, this data will become outdated.

Florida Lottery Scratch Off Tickets You Might Want To Avoid
Also, we’ll take a look at which scratch off games have the most big winners left.
Double Your Money
It’s a $5 ticket where you could win $500,000. But you won’t. All of those are gone.
$50,000 Diamond Mine
You may wanna pass on this $2 ticket. All 12 of the big winning tickets are gone.
Billion Dollar Gold Rush Supreme
This $30 ticket gave 4 grand prize winners $15 million. Gave. As in all those are gone.
50X The Cash
This $5 ticket could score you a million. But it won’t. All of those tickets are gone.
Big Ol' Bens
A $5 ticket with one $500,000 prize remaining.
500X The Cash
I’m on the fence on this one. A lot of the big winning tickets are gone, but several of them were here in Southwest Florida. GEORGE DEMETRIADES of Bonita Springs won $25 million, and one of those big ones are still out there. There’s only 19 of the 160 $1 million dollar prizes, but we’ve seen those hit in North Fort Myers, Marco Island, and Naples. It’s a $50 ticket so it’s a tough decision. Here’s the data I’m looking at.
Full of $200s
A $2 ticket. Only 1 of the 12 big winners are left.
$2 Monopoly Doubler
7 of the 8 $100,000 winning tickets are gone.
Win It All
A $5 ticket with a $500,000 grand prize. 7 of the 8 of these are gone, too.
Money Money Money
Not likely. This $2 ticket could get you $50,000. But 15 of the 16 big winners are already gone.
$1,000 A Week For Life
I love the idea of the guaranteed salary, but with this $2 ticket, 7 of the 8 ‘Life’ winners are gone.
$500 A Week For Life
The $1 little brother. Only 1 big winner is left out there.
5X Bingo
$3 could get you $100,000. 11 of the 12 big ones are gone.
Payout Tripler
A $2 card with a $50,000 grand prize. 9 of the 10 are gone.
$5,000,000 Cash Word
This $20 ticket has eight 5 million dollar winners. 7 have already been claimed.
Now let's talk about the ones with lots of big winners left
This is the part I’ve been waiting for………
Payday Bonus
A $10 card with a 2 million dollar grand prize. 8 of 8 big winners are out there.
Seven Figures
This $5 card could get you a million. Only 1 of the 4 million dollar tickets are claimed.
Diamond Mine 20X
$10 card, one million is the grand prize. 3 of 4 remain.
Florida 300X The Cash
A $30 card with a lot of big winners. grand prize is 15 million with 3 of 4 remaining. Secondary prize of 1 million with 16 of the 24 of those still out there.
1M Year/Life Spec
I haven’t seen this one. This card just came out on February 27th. The ticket is $50 and two winners get a million a year for life. Both of those are still out there. 234 one million dollar winners and 206 of those still out there. Have a look if you’re interested.
If you don't see your favorite ticket, it probably falls somewhere in between.
Here’s the big list of all the current tickets.

Have fun, but play responsibly. I did this list for my own benefit, but it was something I wanted to share. The idea of buying a ticket with no way of winning the grand prize just seemed like such a downer. So I did the math. Good luck to all.