Jackpot Winners Followed to Tampa Area Home And Shot After Casino Win

We hear of a lot of crazy things happening in Florida, but what started as a fun night out ended in chaos as jackpot winners were followed to a Tampa-area home and shot after a casino win.

I've always enjoyed going to the casino. It's a fun atmosphere, there's good music, a variety of restaurants and of course, there's always the chance that you could walk out a winner. Some casinos I've had better luck than others. One of my favorites was in North Dakota where I don't think there was a time over the year that I lived up there that I didn't win something. I wish that was always the case! But a fun night out turned into total chaos as one couple was followed to their home in Riverview and shot after a win at the casino.

On August 2, the couple, a man and a woman, were at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and won $3000 from a slot machine. Not a huge jackpot, but enough to catch the attention of some guys nearby that were watching them. According to Fox 13, the two men, 34 year-old Marcus Jenkins and 36 year-old Tristin Wright, followed the couple home, approached the car demanding money and when the couple ran from the car, on Ring doorbell footage, the men are seen shooting the woman in the calf and the man in the thigh and knee. They also robbed the couple, taking the woman's purse and the man's watch.

$3000 is a good chunk of change that I certainly would be happy with, but to follow people home and do all of this over? I think not.

Both men are facing a slew of charges including attempted murder, robbery, aggravated battery, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

7 is often viewed as a lucky number, so when I saw that there were 7 Florida Lottery Scratch Offs with all their top prizes still unclaimed, I saw it as a sign. It's time to take a look at some Florida Lottery tickets that could score big. One note - this data is as of 7/24/24, so these tickets that I'll mention have all their winners out there as of today. It's always possible that someone is holding a winner that hasn't cashed it in yet.

There is one ticket on this list I'm very familiar with, because I tried and failed. It's the $50 500X The Cash ticket with a grand prize of $25 million. It has a secondary prize of $1 million that has been hitting. In July this ticket has had million dollar winners in Ocala, Hollywood, and Fort Myers. 2 of those winners were bought at Publix. So I dropped a hundred down on two tickets at the Publix in Estero and got - absolutely nothing. Losing a hundred bucks on lottery tickets stings a bit. But, you can't have big winners if you don't have losers. And that was me.

An update on this particular game. There's 2 big winning tickets for the 'Million a Year For Life' and one of them has been claimed. MARQUIS ALLEN ANDERSON of Fort Lauderdale, Florida won the big prize. A million dollars a year for the rest of your life. Marquis took the cash option and got the lump sum of 16 million. That's a tough decision.

So let's get to why we're here. As of today there are 7 Florida Lottery Scratch Off tickets with all of their top prizes still on the board. As I learned, using this method doesn't guarantee you a winner, it just means that no one has hit big, yet. Good luck. All information is courtesy of the Florida Lottery website.

The Florida Lottery issued several new Monopoly games on July 1st. This is the $20 one. 4 people can claim a $5 million dollar grand prize, and no one has yet. 

EDIT: As I was writing this article, this ticket updated and showed that one of the four $2 million dollar winning tickets had been claimed. The winning ticket was sold at the Speedway on Palm Beach Blvd in Fort Myers. So - 3 of the 4 big winners are still out there. 

For 6 lucky scratchers, $5 can get you a million. Like the other Monopoly cards, this one just came out so there's not a lot of data on them. The Monopoly cards are always popular, so I'd definitely expect to see these at the counter. 

I love the $2 tickets because they're great for gift giving. Shove 5 of these in a birthday card and you are good. Want to really feel good? Hand some out at a nursing home. 8 grand prize winners will win $100,000. 

A big thank you to the Florida Lottery for still making $1 tickets. I wouldn't blame them if they didn't, with inflation, their profit margin on these cannot be great. The same things I said about the $2 tickets holds true with the $1 ones. Great for gifts. EDIT: Ok, so 2 of the 20 $10,000 grand prize tickets have been claimed. One in Boynton Beach at a Publix, and one in Haines City at a 7-11. So, 18 of the 20 top prizes remain. 

Ok, let's get away from the Monopoly games and on to this one. It's a bit of an outlier in that the game came out in April and none of the four $10 million dollar grand prizes have been claimed, yet. The secondary prize of $1 million still has 17 of the 20 winning tickets out there. It's a $20 ticket that seems to not be hitting. Is it due? Who knows. I'm just putting out the data, but I do plan on looking for this one when I go to Publix tonight. Wish me luck. 

There's my nemesis. I dropped a hundred dollars picking up 2 of these and won nothing. The game has two $25 million dollar winning tickets out there and 121 of 160 of the $1 million dollar winning tickets yet to be claimed. The Florida Lottery released this game back in January, so it's not new. It's just that no one has hit it big yet.

I hope you do, but as I mentioned - I didn't. I started doing these lists because I didn't want to ever buy a ticket that had all the winning tickets gone. It's not like they tell you at the store. If a game says "You could win 5 million", I want to know that I can. Not find out later that all the big winners were gone. These 7 tickets I listed give you a chance. And that's all you can ask for.

Good luck, and as the Florida Lottery says **play responsibly**