A winning Florida Lottery ticket worth nearly $40,000 was sold at a Publix supermarket in The Villages over the weekend, marking the second major win at this specific location in the past month, and the third since last year.
The winning Fantasy 5 ticket was purchased at the Publix at Magnolia Plaza, located at 2135 Everglades Lane. The ticket was one of three top-prize winners in the evening drawing held on Saturday, June 27, and is worth exactly $39,830.45.
According to the Florida Lottery’s official winner roster, the local player manually selected their winning numbers rather than opting for a randomly generated “Quick Pick” ticket. The other two winning tickets for the Saturday evening drawing, which split the overall top prize pool evenly, were sold at a Bravo Supermarket in Tampa and a Food Town Center in Opa-locka.
Fantasy 5 is a daily game in which players select five numbers from a pool of 1 to 36. Drawings are held twice daily at 1:05 p.m. and 11:15 p.m.
As of Monday, the prize remains unclaimed. Winners of Florida Lottery draw games have 180 days from the date of the drawing to claim their earnings.
The Magnolia Plaza grocery store has been the site of multiple wins over the past 18 months.
In May, Anthony Nicoletti of the Village of Fenney claimed a Fantasy 5 evening top prize worth $50,724.99 after buying his ticket at the exact same Publix. Like the most recent winner, Nicoletti also manually selected his winning numbers.
Additionally, Florida Lottery records show that the same Publix in The Villages sold a winning ticket worth $43,664.53 in March of 2025.
Outside of the Publix in question, several other winning lottery tickets have been claimed by local residents in recent weeks.
In May, a 78-year-old resident of the Del Webb Spruce Creek community in Summerfield claimed a single-ticket Fantasy 5 top prize worth $117,957.17.
Another winning Fantasy 5 ticket was sold earlier this year at the Pilot Travel Center located just outside of The Villages.