Another Florida Woman Wins Monopoly Lottery as $5 Million Jackpots Keep Making Headlines

From a $5 scratch-off at a North Miami food market to a $20 ticket from a Circle K in Manatee County the stories keep coming, and they keep getting bigger.

Let me be honest with you. When I first heard the phrase “a Florida woman wins Monopoly lottery,” I smiled and scrolled past it. It sounded like one of those feel-good filler stories that news desks publish between serious headlines the kind you glance at for two seconds and forget by lunch. But then it happened again. And again. And each time, the prize was bigger, the story more detailed, and the reaction from readers more intense. Now I cannot stop thinking about it and I do not think you will be able to either, once you read what is really going on.

This is not a story about luck. Not entirely, anyway. This is a story about three ordinary women, living ordinary lives in ordinary Florida towns, who each walked into a convenience store, picked up a Monopoly-branded scratch-off ticket, and walked out or drove home, or sat in their cars stunned as millionaires. It is a story about what happens when a century-old board game meets a state-run lottery, and the result is a streak of jackpots that has captured the imagination of an entire country.

I want to tell you everything. The names, the places, the numbers, the decisions they made after winning, and the game itself what it is, how it works, and what the odds actually say. I also want to give you some practical tips if you ever find yourself holding a winning ticket. Because the truth is, winning is only the beginning. What you do next matters just as much as the scratch itself.

There is a specific kind of story that goes viral for all the right reasons not because it is shocking or scandalous, but because it is deeply, quietly hopeful. The story of Florida women winning the Monopoly lottery is exactly that kind of story. It keeps trending not because the media forces it to, but because people genuinely want to read it, share it, and talk about it over coffee.

Think about it for a moment. Monopoly is not just a game. For most Americans and honestly, for most people around the world Monopoly is a memory. It is Christmas morning arguments over who gets to be the little metal dog. It is rainy Sunday afternoons stretched across a living room floor. It is the first time you understood what rent was, or what it felt like to go bankrupt, or what it meant to own something. The emotional connection to that brand runs deep. So when you read that a real woman won real money from a Monopoly-branded lottery ticket, something inside you lights up. The game you played as a child just became a vehicle for life-changing wealth. That is a powerful feeling.

And then there is the setting. These wins did not happen in a casino, or at a high-roller table in Las Vegas, or through some complex financial instrument that only the wealthy can access. They happened at a Circle K. At a 7-Eleven. At a food market in North Miami Beach. These are the places where all of us stop every single day. That proximity the idea that a life-changing ticket could be sitting in a rack next to the energy drinks and the gum is what makes these stories so magnetic.

Now multiply that feeling by three winners. Three separate women. Three separate stores. Three separate moments of disbelief, excitement, and life-altering luck. That is when a story stops being a one-off and starts being a phenomenon.

The game you played as a child just became a vehicle for life-changing wealth. That is a feeling that does not age, and it does not bore.

My goal in writing this piece is to go deeper than the headlines. I want to give you the full story winner by winner and also give you the knowledge and the practical tips to understand this game properly. Whether you play, or whether you simply enjoy following these stories, by the end of this article you will understand exactly why Florida’s Monopoly lottery has become one of the most talked-about scratch-off games in the country right now.

Ana Larsen: The $5 Million Win That Started Everything

Ana Larsen did not set out to become famous. She was sixty years old, living in Lake Worth, Florida a city on the eastern coast of Palm Beach County that most people outside the state have never heard of. She had lived the kind of life that most of us live: steady, routine, occasionally difficult, and built around the kind of small pleasures that do not require a lottery jackpot. A stop at 7-Eleven was not a grand occasion. It was just a stop at 7-Eleven.

But on the day she picked up a $20 MONOPOLY SECRET VAULT scratch-off ticket, something shifted. She did not know it yet. She scratched the ticket maybe while still in the store, maybe in her car, maybe at her kitchen table and the vault symbols aligned. The numbers matched. She had won $5 million. One of only four such prizes in the entire game. Gone, just like that, from a woman who stopped for a drink and a quick scratch to a woman who needed to make some very serious decisions very quickly.

What Ana did next tells you a lot about her character. She did not go public immediately. She processed it. She took the time to understand what she had actually won and what it meant. Then she went to the Florida Lottery office, had the ticket verified, and made a decision that financial professionals consistently recommend for large lottery winners: she took the lump sum.

A $5 million prize. A lump-sum payout. Federal taxes deducted. And after all of that, Ana Larsen walked away with approximately $2.8 million a figure that, while significantly less than the advertised jackpot, is still enough to eliminate debt, provide for family, fund retirement, and create a financial cushion that most Americans will never experience. The 7-Eleven that sold her ticket also received a $10,000 retailer bonus from the Florida Lottery, rewarding the store for being the site of a major win.

Name	Ana Larsen
Location	Lake Worth, FL
Prize Won	$5,000,000
Prize Amount	$5M
Age	60
Lump Sum (Post-Tax)	~$2.8M
Ticket Cost	$20
Purchase Store	7-Eleven

Ana’s story became the spark. It was the first domino in a sequence that nobody anticipated because just a few months later, lightning struck again. Same game. Different county. Different woman. Same prize.

Judith Van Hauer: Manatee County’s $5 Million Moment

Ellenton is a small community in Manatee County, located on the western coast of Florida between Tampa and Sarasota. It is the kind of place where people know their neighbors, where the pace of life is a little slower, and where a Circle K on 18th Street East is just a regular part of the daily routine. Judith Van Hauer lived there. And one day, she stopped at that Circle K, picked up a $20 MONOPOLY SECRET VAULT ticket, and became the second Florida woman to claim a $5 million Monopoly lottery jackpot within the same twelve-month window.

Let that land for a second. The MONOPOLY SECRET VAULT game had four top prizes of $5 million. Ana Larsen won one. Judith Van Hauer won another. Two of the four highest prizes in the entire game gone, within months of each other, to two different women in two different Florida counties. The statistical improbability of this is staggering. And yet, it happened. The Florida Lottery confirmed both wins through its official announcement process, verifying each ticket at the respective district offices before issuing the prizes.

What strikes me most about Judith’s story is not just the win itself, but what it represents. She was not a professional gambler. She was not a person who spent every spare dollar on lottery tickets, calculating probabilities and chasing jackpots. She was a woman who stopped at a convenience store and made a routine purchase. The creativity involved was zero. The strategy was nonexistent. And yet the result was $5 million. There is something both deeply comforting and deeply humbling about that reality.

Name	Judith Van Hauer
Location	Ellenton, Manatee County
Prize Won	$5,000,000
Prize Amount	$5M
Store	Circle K
Ticket Cost	$20
Prize Tier	Top 4
Prizes Claimed	2 of 4

Judith’s win also raised an important question that a lot of readers started asking: how many of these top prizes are left? When two $5 million jackpots disappear from the same game within months of each other, people naturally want to know whether there is still an opportunity out there. I will address that in the game breakdown section below but first, let me tell you about the third winner, whose story proves something even more interesting.

Soignese Youte: Proof That You Do Not Need to Spend $20 to Change Your Life

Soignese Youte was 54 years old and living in Miramar a city in Broward County in South Florida when she walked into Le Phare Food Market in North Miami Beach and picked up a scratch-off ticket. Not a $20 ticket. Not the big premium game. A $5 MONOPOLY DOUBLER Scratch-Off. Five dollars. The cost of a coffee. The cost of a car wash. The kind of amount that most of us spend without giving it a second thought.

She scratched it. And she won $1 million.

I want you to sit with that for a moment, because I think it is the most important part of this entire story. Ana Larsen spent $20 and won $5 million. Judith Van Hauer spent $20 and won $5 million. Those are extraordinary numbers and they carry a certain weight, a certain premium feel. But Soignese Youte spent five dollars and walked away with a million. That is a return on investment of 19,999,900%. That is also, more importantly, a reminder that you do not need to go big to win big. You do not need to stretch your budget or convince yourself that the expensive ticket is the better ticket. Sometimes the $5 scratch-off at the counter is all it takes.

Soignese collected her winnings at the Florida Lottery’s Miami District Office, choosing the lump-sum payment option. After taxes, her take-home was $798,985 nearly $800,000 from a $5 investment. Le Phare Food Market, the store that sold her ticket, received a $2,000 retailer commission. The Florida Lottery announced her win publicly through CBS News Miami, and the response from readers was exactly what you would expect: awe, inspiration, and a quiet mental note to maybe pick up a lottery ticket next time they stop for gas.

Name	Soignese Youte
Location	Miramar, South Florida
Prize Won	$1,000,000
Prize Amount	$1M
Age	54
Lump Sum (Post-Tax)	$798,985
Ticket Cost	$5
Store	Le Phare

Three winners. Three tickets. Three very different amounts spent. And three lives fundamentally altered by a Monopoly-branded scratch-off game. Now let me explain exactly what that game is and why so many people are playing it.

What Is the MONOPOLY SECRET VAULT And Why Is It Different From Every Other Scratch-Off?

At its core, the MONOPOLY SECRET VAULT is a Florida Lottery scratch-off game. But calling it “just a scratch-off” is like calling the Sistine Chapel “just a ceiling.” The game is built around one of the most recognized brand identities in the world Monopoly and it uses that familiarity to create a scratch-off experience that feels genuinely fun, rather than transactional.

The $20 version of the game features multiple scratch areas arranged around iconic Monopoly imagery: the board’s color-coded properties, Mr. Monopoly himself, Chance cards, and most importantly, the vault. The gameplay involves scratching vault symbols to reveal prizes a mechanic that creates genuine suspense, because unlike some scratch-offs where the result is obvious in two seconds, the vault structure requires you to work through the ticket systematically. It feels like playing a game, not just scratching a piece of cardboard.

The prize structure is where the MONOPOLY SECRET VAULT truly separates itself from the competition. Four top prizes of $5 million each. That is four chances not one, not two, but four for someone in Florida to become a multi-millionaire from a single $20 ticket. Below those top prizes are a cascading series of smaller wins, giving the game overall odds of approximately 1 in 2.95 meaning nearly one in three tickets wins something. That is a significantly better “win something” ratio than most scratch-offs on the market.

Game Name	Price	Top Prize	# of Top Prizes	Overall Odds
MONOPOLY SECRET VAULT	$20	$5,000,000	4 prizes	1 in 2.95
MONOPOLY DOUBLER	$5	$1,000,000	12 prizes	1 in 3.98

The MONOPOLY DOUBLER the $5 version that Soignese Youte played operates on a similar brand identity but at a different price point. With 12 top prizes of $1 million available, it offers more chances at the top prize tier, though the individual prize is smaller and the overall odds are slightly worse at 1 in 3.98. The key insight here is that neither game is objectively “better.” They serve different players with different budgets and different risk tolerances. Both have produced life-changing wins. Both are worth understanding.

One detail that I find genuinely fascinating about both games is the retailer bonus structure. When a major prize is won at a particular store, that store receives a commission $10,000 in Ana Larsen’s case, $2,000 in Soignese Youte’s. This is the Florida Lottery’s way of incentivizing retailers to stock and promote its games, and it creates a ripple effect where a single lucky ticket does not just change one person’s life it also puts money directly into a local small business. There is something quietly elegant about that design.

Lump Sum or Annuity? The Most Important Decision a Winner Will Ever Make

All three Florida Monopoly lottery winners made the same financial choice: they took the lump sum. This is worth examining carefully, because it is a decision that has enormous long-term consequences and it is one that many first-time winners get wrong, often because they do not have enough information at the critical moment when the choice has to be made.

Here is the core of the dilemma. When you win a large lottery prize, you are typically offered two options. Option one is the annuity receiving the full prize amount paid out in annual installments over a period of years, often twenty to thirty. Option two is the lump sum receiving a single, immediate payment that is significantly less than the advertised jackpot, because the lottery discounts the future payments to present value.

For Ana Larsen, that meant her $5 million prize became approximately $2.8 million in hand a reduction of 44% from the headline number. For Soignese Youte, her $1 million became $798,985. On the surface, these reductions can feel discouraging. But most financial advisors argue that the lump sum is the smarter choice for most people, for several reasons.

First, inflation erodes the purchasing power of future money. A dollar promised to you in twenty years is worth significantly less than a dollar in your hand today. Second, the lump sum gives you immediate control over your capital allowing you to invest, eliminate debt, provide for family, or build generational wealth in ways that annual installments simply cannot match. Third, and most practically: life is uncertain. Receiving all your money now removes the risk that future circumstances health, legal, or otherwise could complicate future payments.

Winning is only the beginning. The decisions you make in the seventy-two hours after scratching a winning ticket will define the next twenty years of your life.

Florida also has an important advantage that winners in other states do not enjoy: no state income tax. While federal income tax on large lottery prizes can reach 37%, Florida winners do not pay an additional layer of state tax on top of that a significant saving compared to states like California or New York, where combined tax rates on lottery winnings can exceed 50%.

✦ My Top Tips: What to Do the Moment You Realize You Have Won

1. Do not tell anyone not family, not friends until you have spoken to a legal and financial professional. Secrecy in the first 24 hours protects you from pressure and poor decisions.

2. Photograph the ticket front and back immediately, and store the original in a secure location a safe or a bank safety deposit box.

3. In Florida, use the 90-day anonymity window. You have three months before your name becomes public record. Use every one of those days to get your financial house in order quietly.

4. Hire a tax attorney first before you hire a financial advisor, before you hire an accountant. The tax implications of a large win are complex and time-sensitive, and mistakes made at this stage are very difficult to reverse.

5. Decide between lump sum and annuity only after consulting with your professional team never make this choice under the emotional pressure of the moment.

6. Set aside the full estimated tax amount before spending a single dollar. Many lottery winners have faced severe IRS problems by spending prize money before tax season, not realizing how much they owe.

7. Consider setting up a trust or LLC to claim the prize under an entity name rather than your personal name this adds an additional layer of privacy and can offer estate planning benefits.

8. Approach the windfall with humility and patience. Give yourself at least six months before making any major financial decisions large purchases, investments, or charitable commitments

The Psychology of the Lottery Win Story Why We Cannot Stop Reading Them

I have been thinking about this a lot, and I want to share something with you that goes beyond the numbers and the game mechanics. Why do lottery winner stories specifically stories about ordinary people winning extraordinary amounts from scratch-off tickets generate so much engagement, so much sharing, and so much genuine emotional response? What is it about these stories that makes people forward them to their friends, screenshot them, post about them on social media?

I think it comes down to three things. First: proximity. When you read that a woman won $5 million from a scratch-off she bought at a 7-Eleven, you do not think about abstract statistics. You think about the 7-Eleven you pass every morning on your way to work. You think about the times you have picked up a scratch-off on a whim and thrown it away without winning. The winner was standing in a place exactly like the places you stand in every single day. That proximity collapses the psychological distance between “someone lucky” and “me.” It makes the win feel possible in a way that no other form of gambling does.

Second: the Monopoly connection. Creativity in branding is a powerful thing, and the Florida Lottery used it brilliantly when they licensed the Monopoly name for their scratch-off games. Monopoly is not just a game it is a cultural artifact. It is embedded in childhood memories, family traditions, and decades of popular culture. When you attach that brand to a lottery ticket, you tap into an emotional reservoir that most scratch-off games never get near. The win does not just feel like a financial event. It feels like something from a story. Something from a game. Something that was always supposed to happen to someone, somewhere, eventually.

Third: the cluster effect. One win is a story. Two wins from the same game is a coincidence. Three wins with different women, different counties, different price points is a phenomenon. And phenomena demand attention. The human brain is wired to look for patterns, and when it finds one, it pays attention. When a Florida woman wins the Monopoly lottery once, people read about it. When it keeps happening, people become invested. They want to know who is next. They start wondering if they could be next.

One win is a story. Two wins is a coincidence. Three wins is a phenomenon and phenomena demand to be understood.

That investment that wondering is exactly what keeps this keyword trending, and exactly what makes these stories so durable in the news cycle long after the initial announcement has faded.

Everything You Wanted to Know But Were Not Sure Who to Ask

Over the course of researching this article, I came across the same questions being asked over and over again in comments sections, Reddit threads, and lottery forums. Let me answer the most important ones clearly and honestly.

How many $5 million prizes are still available in the MONOPOLY SECRET VAULT?

The game launched with four top prizes of $5 million each. Ana Larsen and Judith Van Hauer have each claimed one, meaning two prizes have been awarded. As of publication, two top prizes may still be available but you should always verify the current prize availability on the Florida Lottery’s official website, which updates in real time as prizes are claimed.

Where can I buy these tickets in Florida?

Both the MONOPOLY SECRET VAULT ($20) and the MONOPOLY DOUBLER ($5) are available at authorized Florida Lottery retailers statewide. This includes major grocery chains like Publix and Winn-Dixie, gas station convenience stores, Circle K, 7-Eleven, and thousands of independent retailers. You can find your nearest authorized seller using the Florida Lottery’s official retail locator online.

Does Florida take state income tax on lottery winnings?

No. Florida has no state income tax, which means lottery winners in the Sunshine State keep more of their prize than winners in most other states. Federal income tax still applies and can reach up to 37% on large prizes which is why working with a tax attorney before claiming is so important.

What are the actual odds of winning the top prize?

The overall odds of winning something on the MONOPOLY SECRET VAULT are approximately 1 in 2.95. The odds of winning the specific $5 million top prize are far lower and depend on how many tickets remain in circulation and how many top prizes have already been claimed. The Florida Lottery publishes these figures publicly, and they update over time as tickets are sold and prizes are awarded.

Is it smarter to buy one $20 ticket or four $5 tickets?

From a pure odds-per-dollar standpoint, the $20 MONOPOLY SECRET VAULT offers slightly better overall odds (1 in 2.95) than the $5 DOUBLER (1 in 3.98). However, the $5 game has 12 top prizes versus 4, making the top tier relatively more accessible. Neither option is definitively “better” the right choice depends on your budget and your personal preferences. What is always true is this: set a fixed budget before you buy, treat lottery tickets as entertainment spending, and never chase losses.

Can I stay anonymous if I win in Florida?

For the first 90 days after claiming a prize, Florida law allows winners to remain anonymous. After that period, your name and city of residence become part of the public record under Florida’s public records laws. This is why using the full 90 days to organize your financial and legal affairs quietly, professionally, and without public pressure is so critically important.

What These Three Women Actually Teach Us If We Are Willing to Listen

I want to close with something that is not about the money. Or rather, it is not only about the money. Because when I look at the stories of Ana Larsen, Judith Van Hauer, and Soignese Youte three women from three different Florida communities, three different ages, three different price points I see something beyond the jackpots. I see three vivid reminders that life can change on an ordinary Tuesday, at an ordinary store, because of an ordinary decision that cost between five and twenty dollars.

That is not a reason to go out and spend recklessly on lottery tickets. Please do not take it that way. The odds are still long. The top prizes are still rare. Responsible play setting a budget, treating tickets as entertainment, never chasing losses is always the right approach. These stories should inspire, not mislead.

But they should also remind you of something true: life is full of moments that do not announce themselves in advance. Ana did not know when she walked into 7-Eleven that the day would end with a $5 million check. Judith did not know that a routine stop at Circle K was about to change everything. Soignese did not know that $5 was about to become nearly $800,000. They did not need to know. They just needed to be there, in that moment, making that ordinary choice.

There is a lesson in that not about lottery tickets specifically, but about showing up. About being present in the ordinary moments of your life. About understanding that the extraordinary rarely announces its arrival. It tends to show up quietly, disguised as something completely routine, waiting to be discovered by whoever happens to be paying attention that day.

And sometimes, it arrives wrapped in the colors of a Monopoly board, hidden inside a $20 scratch-off ticket, sitting in a rack at a Circle K in Manatee County, waiting for the right person to pick it up and change their life forever.

The Last Word

Three Florida women. Three Monopoly lottery tickets. Three completely different moments in completely different parts of the state. And three outcomes that none of them could have predicted when they woke up that morning.

The MONOPOLY SECRET VAULT and MONOPOLY DOUBLER games have produced some of the most talked-about lottery wins of 2025 and 2026. The stories are real. The prizes are real. And somewhere out there, at a Circle K or a 7-Eleven or a food market in South Florida, the next chapter of this story is already waiting to be written.