LEE COUNTY, Fla. -- Are you feeling lucky? If you are, then buy yourself a scratch off, Powerball, or Mega Millions ticket, because Wednesday is National Lottery Day!
The Florida Lottery is actually celebrating the entire week as part of #LotteryWeek.
Lotteries date all the way back to the 15th century. Back then the money raised would help feed and clothe the poor and strengthen village defenses.
Today, lotteries are state-owned and operated. Funds raised help the communities they serve and go towards things like schools, roads, and government programs.
RELATED: Florida Lottery celebrates billions donated to education in Florida
And Southwest Florida has had its share of winners. An Estero man won $15 million in a February Lotto drawing. A Cape Coral woman won $1 million on a scratch-off ticket in March. A Sanibel man won $2 million in a Powerball drawing in March.
In 2018, a Naples man won $500,000, a Bonita Springs woman won $2 million, a Port Charlotte man won $1 million, a Clewiston woman won $1 million, and a Bonita Springs teen won $15 million, all on scratch-off tickets. Those are only a few of the local winners.
But all of those pale in comparison to one lucky winner last October. An unidentified winner in South Carolina claimed the biggest single-player jackpot in history, winning $1.5 billion in a Mega Millions drawing.
The Florida Lottery hosts the Powerball drawing Wednesday night with estimated jackpot at $40 million.
You can watch that drawing and all Florida Lottery drawings on Fox 4, the official lottery station for Southwest Florida.
