Turning twenty bucks into a multi-million dollar payday is the kind of math most people only dream about, but for DeFuniak Springs resident Paul Michael Cich, it is now very real. Cich claimed the $5,000,000 top prize from the Florida Lottery's $20 200X THE CASH scratch-off and chose the cash option, a one-time payout of about $2.78 million, when he collected his winnings on March 27. The winning ticket was bought at a Tom Thumb in DeFuniak Springs, and although the claim was finalized in March, the state's winners file and fresh local coverage have shoved the story back into the spotlight this week.
How the win was confirmed
The Florida Lottery’s official winners list shows that Paul Michael Cich claimed a $5,000,000 top prize from the 200X THE CASH game, with a March 27 claim date and a cash-option payout of $2,779,400. The document also confirms that the winning ticket was sold at Tom Thumb at 1966 U.S. 90 W. in DeFuniak Springs, according to the Florida Lottery. The same file lists several other top-prize winners in the game and notes that one $5 million top prize remains unclaimed.
Why it's surfacing now
Local media circled back to the story after the state updated its public winners file. West Orlando News recapped the win on July 20, highlighting the Tom Thumb where the lucky ticket was sold. The outlet reports that Cich went to the Lottery's Tallahassee office to complete the claim paperwork and that he chose the lump-sum payout instead of annual installments.
About the game
The 200X THE CASH ticket is a $20 instant game with a $5 million top prize, and current trackers list overall odds at about 1 in 2.96, with one top prize still on the board. Game-tracking site ScratchCheck pulls its data from the Lottery's public prize files and reports more than 6.9 million winning tickets and roughly $313 million in total cash prizes for this game, which helps explain why a win from months ago can still ripple through the news cycle.
What winners should know
Opting for the cash payout is a popular move, but it comes with strings attached. Large lottery prizes are subject to federal reporting and withholding, so winners should expect IRS forms and tax taken out of the payout before the money ever hits their bank account. The IRS instructions for Forms W-2G spell out how big lottery and gambling prizes are reported and what gets withheld, and financial advisers typically urge winners to sign the ticket, secure it, and talk with tax and legal professionals before making any big-money decisions. For official federal details, see the IRS instructions for Form W-2G.
Beyond the eye-popping jackpots, the Florida Lottery emphasizes where a lot of that money is supposed to go. The agency reports that it has contributed more than $49 billion to education statewide and that Scratch-Off games alone have generated tens of billions of dollars for the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund. Those numbers come from the Lottery's own reporting on prize payouts and transfers to education, according to the Florida Lottery.
Retailers that sell winning tickets of this size often enjoy a short burst of attention, with curious locals dropping in to try their luck at the “lucky” counter. The Tom Thumb that sold Cich's ticket may see that brief crowds-and-scratch-offs moment in the days ahead. A similar pattern played out in South Florida after a gas station customer hit for $5 million in Miami Gardens, a story detailed in coverage of a recent Miami Gardens $5 million sale.
