The Georgia Lottery is big business − with more than a billion dollars raised for education funds and $2.7 billion in prizes for players in 2016, according to the Georgia Lottery Corporation.
The AJC requested data from the lottery commission to see where some of that $2.7 billion went in 2016. The data showed every prize exceeding $600 that was claimed between July and October in metro Atlanta.
From there, the newspaper identified retailers that sold some of the biggest winning tickets.
Based on that data, here are nine of the “lucky” retailers in Gwinnett County:
- A $50,000 10X The Money lottery ticket at a Peachtree Express in Lawrenceville
- A $50,000 Super Max The Money lottery ticket was sold at Chos Texaco Food Mart in Norcross
- A $25,000 Jumbo Jumbo Bucks lottery ticket was sold at Kroger in Norcross
- A $1 million scratch-off ticket for the $100 Million Cash Out game was sold at Hong Kong Supermarket in Norcross
- A $750,000 Silver Peach ticket was sold at Exxon Food Mart in Suwanee
- A $500,000 Bonus scratch-off was sold at Simonton Shell in Lawrenceville
- A $150,000 Giant Jumbo Bucks lottery ticket was sold at Chevron Food Mart in Duluth
- A $50,000 10x The Money Exclusive lottery ticket was sold at a Peachtree Express in Lawrenceville
- A $250,000 Millionaire Jumbo Bucks lottery ticket was sold at a Jimmy Carter Shell in Norcross
At least $107.8 million in prize money was claimed during that time from tickets sold at area stores.
All Georgia Lottery profits go to pay for specific educational programs, including Georgia's HOPE Scholarship Program and Georgia's Pre-K program. See winning numbers at ajc.com/lottery.
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