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Ian leaves scenes of recovery, despair on Florida coast

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Ian leaves scenes of recovery, despair on Florida coast


FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Simply days after Hurricane Ian struck, a crowd of locals gathered underneath an enormous banyan tree at a motel’s outside tiki bar for drink specials and reside music. Lower than 10 miles away, crews have been ending the seek for our bodies on a coastal barrier island. Even nearer, complete households have been attempting to get snug for the night time in a mass shelter housing greater than 500 storm victims.

On a coast the place a couple of miles meant the distinction between life and loss of life, aid and smash, the contrasting scenes of actuality lower than two weeks for the reason that hurricane’s onslaught are jarring, they usually level to the way in which catastrophe can imply so many alternative issues to totally different individuals.

Arlan Fuller has seen the disparity whereas working within the hurricane zone to serve marginalized communities with Undertaking Hope, a nonprofit that gives medical aid companies. Just a few components appear to account for the huge variations from one place to the following, he stated: Individuals and locations closest to the coast normally fared the worst, as did individuals with decrease incomes.

“There’s an attention-grabbing mixture of location, the durability of the construction individuals lived in, and means,” stated Fuller.

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On Pine Island, the place the state shortly erected a brief bridge to switch one washed out by the storm, volunteers are handing out water, ice, meals and provides. The island’s Publix grocery retailer reopened with generator energy sooner than appeared potential, pleasing island resident Charlotte Smith, who didn’t evacuate.

“My house is OK. The decrease degree did flood considerably. However I’m dry. They’ve the water again on operating. Issues are actually getting fairly good.” Smith stated.

The cleanup continues throughout Florida after Hurricane Ian ravaged a lot of the Sunshine State. (CNN, GETTY IMAGES, FLORIDA POWER AND LIGHT)

Life may be very totally different for Shanika Caldwell, 40, who took her 9 youngsters to a mass shelter situated inside Hertz Enviornment, a minor league hockey coliseum, after one other shelter situated at a public highschool shut down so lessons may get able to resume. The household was dwelling in a motel earlier than the storm however needed to flee after the roof flew off, she stated.

“If they are saying they’ll begin college subsequent week, how am I going to get my youngsters forwards and backwards from college all the way in which right here?” she stated Saturday. Close by, an enormous silver statue of an ice hockey participant appeared out over the sector car parking zone.

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Ian, a robust Class 4 storm with 155 mph (249 kph) winds, was blamed for greater than 100 deaths, the overwhelming majority of them in southwest Florida. It was the third-deadliest storm to hit the U.S. mainland this century behind Hurricane Katrina, which left about 1,400 individuals useless, and Hurricane Sandy, which had a complete loss of life rely of 233 regardless of weakening to a tropical storm simply earlier than it made landfall.

For some, the restoration has been pretty fast. Barber retailers, automobile washes, chain eating places, a gun vary and vape retailers — a number of vape retailers — have already got reopened on U.S. 41, recognized in southern Florida because the Tamiami Path. Many visitors lights are working, but residents of low-lying properties and cellular house parks simply off the freeway are nonetheless shoveling mud that was left behind by floodwaters.

In Punta Gorda, close to the place boutiques and funding companies do enterprise alongside a tony avenue lined by palm bushes, Judy Jones, 74, is attempting to offer for greater than 40 residents of the bare-bones homeless shelter she’s operated for greater than 5 a long time, Bread of Life Mission Inc.

“I deal with people who fall via the crack within the system,” she stated. “You have got individuals who have been on their toes however due to the hurricane, they’re on their knees.”

Myrtle Seaside officers say a person died after falling off a resort balcony throughout Hurricane Ian. (Source: WMBF)

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Cheryl Wiese isn’t homeless: For 16 years she spent the autumn and winter months in her modest cellular house on Oyster Bay Lane, situated at Fort Myers Seaside, earlier than returning to a spot on Lake Erie in Ohio for the summer season. However what she discovered after making the 24-hour drive south following Ian all however ruined her.

“I don’t wish to even reside right here anymore. There isn’t a Fort Myers Seaside. All my neighbors are gone. All my associates are gone,” she stated.

The worst half, she stated, may need been driving previous the devastation to the general public library to start the method of making use of for help from the Federal Emergency Administration Company. A employee advised her to be prepared for a cellphone name and go to from a FEMA consultant, and to not miss both, Wiese stated.

“If I miss the cellphone name? Out of luck,” she stated. “If I miss him? Out of luck.”

Danilo Mendoza, a development employee from the Miami space whose trailer and instruments have been blown away by Ian, has seen the locations the place persons are occurring with life, the place the restoration already is underway, however he’s doing his greatest to remain optimistic.

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He counts himself lucky as a result of he has a protected place to remain on the hockey enviornment, which is situated throughout the road from upscale residences the place individuals go on morning walks in athletic gear, and the meals is plentiful.

“I see the large image,” he stated. “They provide you blankets, for God’s sake, model new ones. They provide you all of the issues it’s worthwhile to survive.”



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Orange County, Florida authorizes $10 million to lure Jaguars to Orlando for 2027 season

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Orange County, Florida authorizes  million to lure Jaguars to Orlando for 2027 season


The Jaguars will need a place to play their home games in 2027. Orlando’s Camping World Stadium hopes to land the assignment.

Via WESH-TV, the Orange County Tourist Development Tax Sports Incentive Committee has authorized spending at least $10 million to lure the Jaguars to Orlando.

Gainesville also is attempting to attract the Jaguars to the University of Florida’s stadium for all or part of the season. Per the report, however, there’s a belief that Orlando has the upper hand given its infrastructure, attractions, and accommodations.

A decision is expected this summer.

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Florida Citrus Sports projects that the eight 2027 Jaguars home games (the ninth will be played in England) would generate a financial impact of $160 million.

As to the apparent possibility of splitting the games between multiple stadiums, remember this — any stadium in which NFL games are played must have the appropriate technical capabilities in place, from the real-time connection to the league office for replay review to the implementation of boundary cameras and all other related NFL technology.

For that reason, it makes plenty of sense for the Jaguars and/or the NFL to pick one stadium and stick with it.





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Former Social Security Chief Courts Florida Seniors Enraged by Musk's Cuts

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Former Social Security Chief Courts Florida Seniors Enraged by Musk's Cuts


MIAMI — On Friday night, former Social Security head Martin O’Malley faced some of the rage that Democratic and Republican members of Congress have been confronted with in recent weeks as the Trump administration ravages the federal government and threatens programs like Social Security. O’Malley was there to detail not just what the Trump administration is going to harm the program, but how Americans can stop it.

The rage came in a gleaming, progressive Methodist church on the ninth floor of a high rise overlooking the Biscayne Bay as O’Malley answered questions from a small audience of seniors who had gathered at one of a handful of events across Florida in recent days. It came from a 61-year-old Cuban-American retiree and Marine veteran named Enrique Tamayo.

“I have to say that sitting here and listening to you speak is frustrating because we are at war,” Tamayo said as O’Malley listened and the room tensed up. “Our country is being taken over. Our programs, our entitlements are being dismantled. What I feel is that we’re bringing a knife to a gunfight.”

O’Malley, the former Democratic Maryland governor, had been telling attendees to call their congressional representatives to urge them to protect Social Security as Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) makes cuts to the agency that, O’Malley says, are already “90 percent of the actions necessary to crater Social Security.” 

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Tamayo felt it wasn’t enough — his congressional representatives in South Florida, Republicans like Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar and Sen. Rick Scott, weren’t going to listen to people like him. They are part of the authoritarian takeover Tamayo believes the United States is under. 

“Do you think they’re going to stop with Social Security? This is authoritarian rule that we’re under and it’s going to get worse,” Tamayo said, noting that Trumpworld figure Steve Bannon has been openly talking about a third Trump presidential term. 

Tamayo suggested drastic action — “a month of no consumption,” he said. Shutting down the economy would cripple the Trump regime because “the corporate governance that we have today is at the heart of this mess.”

After a few more comments and questions, O’Malley took in the response to his suggestion that frustrated seniors share their concerns over threats to entitlements like Social Security and Medicaid with their elected representatives. What he heard in response at the Cornerstone United Methodist Church in Miami was that it wouldn’t matter. The people were at their wit’s end.

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“That’s how — do I want to use this word? Yes, I do. That’s how fascists win, by making us feel like we can’t do anything about it,” O’Malley said. 

Since mid-March, O’Malley has been bouncing between his native Baltimore and Florida to speak at events held by Save Social Security and Medicare Now, a Super PAC formed last year. On Friday, he started the day in Naples, then drove across Alligator Alley to the event in Miami. The next day, Orlando and Palm Coast, then Pensacola. The event with Tamayo in Miami was the smallest of the events so far with about 30 people — former Miami mayor Manny Diaz noted it’s not easy getting downtown at 4 p.m. on a Friday. In all, O’Malley and organizers say, they’ve had some 3,000 people, mostly seniors, show up at their events. The next day in Fort Lauderdale, hundreds filled every pew of a Methodist church.

“I think this is the beginning of something,” O’Malley told Rolling Stone after the Fort Lauderdale event. There, he told attendees that “this is a moment in our country’s history to not give up on the capacity of our neighbors to be engaged. So many of us are checking out because it can be anxiety-inducing, but now is the time to be at the table of democracy.”

ATTENDEES AT THE EVENTS have vacillated between distraught, bewildered, confused, and occasionally very, very angry. 

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“Where’s Jared Moskowitz’ rep?” one man screamed of the Democratic representative as O’Malley thanked local pols who attended an event held Saturday at the Methodist Church of Christ in Fort Lauderdale. 

The people at the events are worried about soaring wait times online and on over the phone, plus the prospect of their local Social Security office closing. Meanwhile, the agency’s website has crashed and waits to speak to representatives have skyrocketed thanks to DOGE’s cuts, according to the Washington Post. DOGE has slated 47 field offices in 24 states for closure and has said it will do away with the agency’s 800 number in favor of online customer service. 

“I’m techie, so I can figure stuff like that out,” one woman, who didn’t want to give her name, tells Rolling Stone. “But I worry about people who aren’t so good with technology or who don’t have Internet access.”

The woman and her husband noted that many of the offices DOGE wants to close are in rural areas with unreliable internet. Attendees worried that Social Security is effectively being shut down under the guise of rooting out the fraud, waste, and abuse that Musk and the Trump administration claim are infecting the system. 

In addition to the wildly unfounded claims that Americans well over the age of 100 are receiving benefits, Musk and Trump have claimed that entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare are rife with fraud and improper payments. Musk recently claimed, without evidence, that there’s up to $700 billion in fraud in entitlements each year. The White House has singled out a report from the former inspector general of Social Security showing that the agency made $72 billion in improper payments between 2015 and 2022, amounting to .85 percent of all payments. 

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The claims are key to the Trump administration’s argument that it is carrying out a campaign promise to cut waste, fraud, and abuse. So far, DOGE and the White House have yet to report a single actual instance of fraud. Still, Attorney General Pam Bondi insisted at Monday’s Cabinet meeting that those who commit fraud in relation to government services will be prosecuted. 

“We’re coming after you,” Bondi said, in part, claiming the Justice Department now has a “task force” looking at fraud claims in every major federal government agency.

O’Malley is quick to point out that there were already checks against fraud within the Social Security Administration (SSA) — checks that were some of the first cuts made by DOGE when it closed the Office of Analytics, Review and Oversight, the SSA office responsible for investigating fraud and improper payments. 

O’Malley, the former Baltimore mayor and Maryland governor who briefly ran for president in 2016 and served as Social Security commissioner for a year under President Joe Biden, has begun his talks at the events by describing how he got the job. Neera Tanden, Biden’s staff secretary and a senior advisor, had called O’Malley and described how wait times had gone up as the SSA’s customer service operations had deteriorated. “Sounds like a problem. Who do you have in mind to fix it?” O’Malley recalls asking Tanden. “Well, we were thinking of you,” she replied.

Thus began O’Malley’s crash course in Social Security, an agency with offices and thousands of employees in his native Baltimore. He remembers asking top staff there if they had pie charts so he could better visualize some of the endless numbers and stats being thrown his way. “Pie charts are for simpletons,” was the response, O’Malley told the crowd in Fort Lauderdale before taking a pause. “OK, do you have any pie charts to help explain all this?” he recalled responding to the staffer as the crowd laughed. 

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O’Malley points to a simple graph to explain the challenges his former agency faces. It shows the number of Social Security employees going down over a 50-year period as the number of beneficiaries — Baby Boomers like O’Malley entering retirement — have skyrocketed. At events across Florida, O’Malley has touted his work as Social Security Commissioner, noting that wait times on the agency’s 800 number went down during his tenure, and how he limited “clawback” fees to prevent seniors from going broke if the agency made a mistake and overpaid them. The Trump administration has returned those clawback fees to 100 percent, meaning even an accidental overpayment that is no fault of a beneficiary will result in their entire check being withheld.

From there, O’Malley has gone on to explain everything that has happened in Trump’s first two months in office, with acting commissioner Leland Dudek overseeing a “reign of terror,” as O’Malley puts it. First, DOGE staffers like Musk deputy Steve Davis and a 22-year-old former Meta and Palantir intern named Akash Bobba demanded sweeping access to all of SSA’s data systems, according to a deposition from a 30-year SSA veteran filed in a lawsuit brought against the agency by the AFL-CIO. When former commissioner Michele King — who O’Malley says was a dedicated public servant who began her career decades before as a 22-year-old intern herself at the agency — refused to provide the data, Dudek undercut her, eventually admitting to his subordination in a since-deleted LinkedIn post.

“I confess. I bullied agency executives, shared executive contact information, and circumvented the chain of command to connect DOGE with the people who get stuff done,” Dudek wrote.

As punishment, King placed Dudek on administrative leave as Davis and DOGE continued demanding access to the data. Rather than hand it over, King resigned. The Trump administration then chose Dudek for the role of acting commissioner. On Tuesday, the Senate will hear from the administration’s pick to lead the agency — Frank Bisignano, a former Fiserv executive known for cost-saving staff cuts at the company — at his confirmation hearing. 

Dudek and DOGE have been on the warpath, closing the review and oversight office that examined fraud and improper payments, closing the Office of Transformation, which dealt with customer service, and shuttering the Office of Civil Rights, which heard workplace complaints of discrimination. Amid the carnage, Trump fired the agency’s inspector general along with more than a dozen other inspectors general across the government. 

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Also removed in the slow-rolling massacre were Eric Powers, the agency’s head of customer service, and Claudia Postell, who oversaw the civil rights office — both dedicated public servants, O’Malley says. Powers was unceremoniously fired for cause, according to O’Malley, who relayed the stories of Powers’ firing and other agency cuts as told to him by insiders

“Trump isn’t pleased with customer service and you haven’t made it any better so you’re fired — go get a cardboard box,” O’Malley says of Powers’ firing.

“It was like the Wizard of Oz tearing apart the scarecrow,” O’Malley told the crowd in Fort Lauderdale as attendees sat in silent disbelief at the description of events. “They made a spectacle of it for everyone to see — people standing in the parking lot with boxes on the hood of their cars crying and hugging each other.” 

With the agency being gutted from the inside out, DOGE offered buyouts to thousands of employees at or near retirement age. More than 2,000 have taken the offer. “These guys are paying people — with your money — to leave,” O’Malley told the crowd. “That’s the biggest waste of efficiency in the history of the Social Security Administration.”  

Then came the lies, O’Malley says. Looking at data that was, in part, organized by an antiquated coding system, DOGE staff thought they had discovered people well over the age of 100 receiving benefits. What they were actually looking at was a quirk in the system: For people whose date of birth wasn’t known, the system — known as COBOL — defaulted to an internationally recognized date for statistical language. The date was in the year 1875, making it appear that Americans who were well over 100 years old were still receiving benefits. 

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Musk and Trump took this mistake and ran with it, talking about people who were 100, 150, and even 300 years old who were allegedly receiving Social Security benefits. None of it was true. 

“The DOGE kids were elated — they thought they’d found this high scandal,” O’Malley told the crowd in Fort Lauderdale. “But didn’t really know what they were looking at.”

O’Malley says he believed Musk would correct the record and admit DOGE’s mistake, but when Trump mentioned the phenomenon of people at impossibly high ages receiving benefits, he knew it was part of a campaign to discredit Social Security amid efforts to cut services. 

“I thought, ‘Woah, what a huge gaffe, Musk probably didn’t tell him it wasn’t true.’ Now, I think they must have done their polling and know that enough people in their base will choose to believe that we’re sending money out to cadavers with checks falling out of their pockets.” 

ALL OF THIS HAS LEFT seniors and other Americans who rely on Social Security asking two questions: How bad will it get, and what can be done about it? The answer to the first question, according to O’Malley, is “total system collapse” if nothing is done to stop DOGE’s work inside the SSA. Part of that work was halted last week when a federal judge issued an order prohibiting DOGE from accessing the personal data of hundreds of millions of Americans. 

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To answer the second question, O’Malley believes that his barnstorming tour and the message it sends to congressional Republicans might strike enough fear of losing in the midterms into the hearts of congressional Republicans to make them think twice about letting DOGE’s work inside the SSA and other agencies continue unfettered. 

“I can see the look in your eyes — we’ll never get Rick Scott to do anything,” O’Malley told Tamayo in Miami. “But don’t give up on him; don’t give up on your legislators.”

After the event, O’Malley and Diaz found a nearby bar to grab drinks and unpack the event. Over a Corona and a shot of well tequila, O’Malley told Diaz he has embraced the role of “Social Security Commissioner-in-exile,” something the former Miami mayor suggested is in line with what prominent Democrats should be doing in Washington: holding “shadow cabinet” meetings and regular press conferences explaining the threats posed by DOGE and the Trump administration’s gutting of government.  

That may help from a messaging perspective, but much more may be required. Tamayo wasn’t alone in suggesting that true progress on defending Social Security and stopping the Trump administration’s authoritarian dismantling of government might take something more forceful than calling members of Congress. A woman at the Fort Lauderdale event told O’Malley that Americans should prepare for widespread protests and boycotts. 

“To stop them — France is where I think we need to be looking towards,” she said. “They do general strikes all the time whenever the government comes for their benefits.”

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O’Malley didn’t oppose the idea even as he insisted that pressure on Congress could bring an end to the DOGE madness. That, plus something as simple as talking to one’s neighbors, friends, and family — even if they’re Trump supporters — to inform them about the threats to Social Security. O’Malley told the crowd in Fort Lauderdale he had achieved a greater understanding of what drives Musk when the world’s richest man recently said that “the fundamental weakness of Western Civilization is empathy.” 

He said Musk believes that the men and women attending the events in Florida, like all retirees, are an “inefficiency” to be eliminated — a position that O’Malley argued is out of step with fundamental American values.  

“The greatness of our country is not measured by the power of our armies or by the vastness of our wealth, it is measured by the care and compassion we demonstrate for each other,” O’Malley said in Fort Lauderdale. 

After the event, O’Malley spent 30 minutes speaking with attendees before his bodyman gave him the three-minute warning. Then, it was into a rented Kia sedan and off to Palm Coast, three hours and 45 minutes away. With growing anger at Democratic Party leadership and progressive Americans looking for party leaders to push back against the Trump administration, it’s only natural to wonder whether O’Malley’s tour of Florida to save Social Security is the beginning of a long road that ends at the White House in 2029. 

“We’re primed to think of things in terms of electoral self-preservation,” he tells Rolling Stone. “But I’d rather not be having to do this. I’d rather be running Social Security.”

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Even under Trump?

“Hell no — for an administration that isn’t trying to destroy it.”



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Florida Lottery Powerball, Cash4Life results for March 24, 2025

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Florida Lottery Powerball, Cash4Life results for March 24, 2025


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The Florida Lottery offers several draw games for those hoping to win one of the available jackpots. Here’s a look at the winning numbers for games played on Monday, March 24, 2025

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Winning Powerball numbers from March 24 drawing

06-23-35-36-47, Powerball: 12, Power Play: 2

Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Cash4Life numbers from March 24 drawing

11-37-51-56-58, Cash Ball: 04

Check Cash4Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Fantasy 5 numbers from March 24 drawing

Midday: 04-14-15-17-33

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Check Fantasy 5 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Cash Pop numbers from March 24 drawing

Morning: 03

Matinee: 05

Afternoon: 06

Evening: 05

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Check Cash Pop payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 2 numbers from March 24 drawing

Midday: 3-5, FB: 1

Evening: 7-0, FB: 2

Check Pick 2 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 3 numbers from March 24 drawing

Midday: 0-5-2, FB: 1

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Evening: 3-1-6, FB: 2

Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 4 numbers from March 24 drawing

Midday: 6-1-1-4, FB: 1

Evening: 6-3-1-3, FB: 2

Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.

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Winning Pick 5 numbers from March 24 drawing

Midday: 1-0-6-0-8, FB: 1

Evening: 8-8-1-8-1, FB: 2

Check Pick 5 payouts and previous drawings here.

Where can you buy Florida Lottery tickets?

Tickets can be purchased in person at any authorized retailer throughout Florida, including gas stations, convenience stores and grocery stores. To find a retailer near you, go to Find Florida Lottery Retailers.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

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Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your prize

  • Prizes of $599 or less: Claim at any authorized Florida Lottery retailer or Florida Lottery district office.
  • Prizes for $600 to $1 million: Must be claimed in person at any Florida Lottery district office for games that do not offer an annual payment option.
  • Prizes greater than $1 million and all prizes with an annual payment option: Must be claimed at Florida Lottery headquarters, except Mega Millions and Powerball prizes, which can be claimed at any Florida Lottery district office.

You also can claim your winnings by mail if the prize is $250,000 or less. Mail your ticket to the Florida Lottery with the required documentation.

Florida law requires public disclosure of winners

If you’re a winner, Florida law mandates the following information is public record:

  • Full name
  • City of residence
  • Game won
  • Date won
  • Amount won
  • Name and location of the retailer where the winning ticket was purchased.

When are the Florida Lottery drawings held?

  • Powerball: 10:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
  • Mega Millions: 11 p.m. Tuesday and Friday.
  • Florida Lotto: 11:15 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday.
  • Jackpot Triple Play: 11:15 p.m. Tuesday and Friday.
  • Cash4Life: 9 p.m. daily.
  • Fantasy 5: Daily at 1:05 p.m. and 11:15 p.m.
  • Cash Pop: Daily at 8:45 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 2:45 p.m., 6:45 p.m. and 11:45 p.m.
  • Pick 2, 3, 4, 5: Daily at 1:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Florida digital producer. You can send feedback using this form.



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