A resident of The Villages has been officially identified as the winner of a nearly $40,000 Florida Lottery prize, continuing a streak of winning tickets sold at the same local Publix.
Francis Charles Gordon, who resides in the Village of Shady Brook, claimed the top prize from the Fantasy 5 evening drawing held on Saturday, June 27. Gordon’s winning ticket is worth exactly $39,830.45.
Gordon purchased the winning ticket at the Publix at Magnolia Plaza, which is located at 2135 Everglades Lane in The Villages. Gordon’s ticket was one of three top-prize winners in the Saturday evening drawing that split the overall prize pool evenly. The other two winning tickets were sold at a Bravo Supermarket in Tampa and a Food Town Center in Opa-locka.
According to the Florida Lottery’s official winner roster, Gordon manually selected his winning numbers (1, 2, 3, 5, 10) rather than opting for a randomly generated “Quick Pick” ticket.
Gordon’s payout marks the second major lottery success at the Magnolia Plaza Publix in the past month, and the third since last year.
In May, another Villager claimed a Fantasy 5 evening top prize worth $50,724.99 after purchasing his ticket at the exact same Publix location. Additionally, Florida Lottery records show that the Magnolia Plaza Publix sold another winning ticket worth $43,664.53 in March 2025.
Outside of the Magnolia Plaza location, several other winning lottery tickets have been claimed by residents in the surrounding area 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.
The Fantasy 5 is a daily draw game from the Florida Lottery in which players try to match five numbers from a pool of 1 to 36. Drawings are held twice daily at 1:05 p.m. and 11:15 p.m.