MARIANNA — A Marianna woman has claimed a $3 million prize in the “Super Millions Scratch-Off” game, according to the Florida Lottery.
Melenna Ritz, 34, chose to receive the winnings in a one-time, lump-sum payment of $2,098,840.63. The other option would have been a 25-year annuity at $120,000 per year.
Ritz purchased her winning ticket at M&M Market, 3106 Main St. in Cottondale. The retailer will receive a bonus commission of $6,000 for selling the $3 million winning ticket. The store’s previous biggest winner was a $60,000 Fantasy 5 ticket.
Jackson County, which for years has attracted lottery players from Alabama, is no stranger to big winners. In the past two years, a man won a $1 million top prize in a scratch-off game, another man won nearly $260,000 with a Fantasy 5 ticket, and yet another man won a “Mega Money” jackpot of $1.8 million. All three winners were from Dothan, Ala., and all three tickets were bought at Panhandle Package on U.S. 231 in Campbellton, just south of the state line. Another winning Fantasy 5 ticket — this one for $46,000 — was bought at Green’s Supermarket on State 71 North, in Marianna in March 2013.
And that’s not all. A Grand Ridge woman won a $1 million prize playing Powerball at McCoy’s Inc. archery and convenience store in Marianna in November 2012.
Super Millions, which launched earlier this month, is currently one of the Florida Lottery’s top-selling scratch-off games. The $20 game features more than $300 million in total cash prizes and 6.7 million winning tickets. There are 11 top prizes of $3 million remaining. The game’s overall odds of winning are one-in-2.97.
Scratch-off games comprise about 60 percent of ticket sales and generate more than $575 million for education in fiscal year 2012-13, the Florida Lottery Department said.
The Florida Lottery has allocated more than $26 billion to education and contributed to sending more than 650,000 students to college through the Bright Futures Scholarship Program. Since 1988, Florida Lottery games have paid more than $37 billion in prizes and made more than 1,300 people millionaires.