Texas Man Wins $1M Florida Lottery Prize in January, Claims Prize in May

David Le, a resident of Texas, was on a quick trip down to Florida when he decided to pick a ticket for the $1,000,000 a Year for Life game. As it turned out, he had won $1,000,000 from the game, but did not step forward to claim his prize until last week.

Man From Texas Strikes Gold in Florida with $1M Win

The Texas resident had waited a while to step forward and almost missed the deadline as lottery prizes have 180 days to be claimed. However, Le has caught the deadline with the Florida Lottery sharing on Friday, May 2, that the man had stepped forward to claim the lump sum of the reward – $640,000 after tax.

His ticket was bought at Walmart Liquor Box at 1619 Del Prado Boulevard S. in Cape Coral, fetching the outlet $2,000.

Although it may appear a little odd to see a person who lives out of state come in and play at the local lottery, there are actually no restrictions in Florida that prevent people from doing just that.

Most lotteries in the United States, if realistically not all of them, allow you to buy tickets passing through state, and have no limitation on who may win – in theory, a tourist can also win the top prize.

All that is necessary is for the person to be physically present to purchase the ticket (although with the advancement of lottery courier services, this is no longer necessary in all states), be of the legal gambling age, and have the winning ticket for verification.

Lottery Couriers Get the Cold Shoulder in Texas

In other words, you could just be on a quick trip to the US, and still snatch a top prize, although this has generally been met with grumbling from ordinary lottery players. In fact, a recent win that was generated in Texas has caused a proper raucous.

In 2023, an international syndicate spent $26 million on purchasing all possible combinations for Lotto Texas and won, scooping up the top prize of $95 million.

However, Texas has grown wary of such practices. In 2025, the Lone Star denied a payout to a Texas woman who won $83.5 million after purchasing the ticket through a courier service.

The case raised a lot of heckles and prompted the Texas Lottery to ban the payout of the winnings and its boss, Ryan Mindell, to step down amid the brewing political scandal and accusations being thrown around.