A Florida trucker is in retirement, thinking about new homes, swimming pools, boats and scuba diving after winning $3.8 million in the state’s lotto jackpot.
On May 13 Lindsay Randall, 49, was the first of three winners of a $20 million jackpot to redeem his ticket. He could have received his winnings over 30 years in annual installments of $222,222, but he opted to take his money as a lump sum.
Randall, a former owner-operator, drove for Cypress Truck Lines of Jackson. Originally from England, Randall has lived in the United States for 30 years. He plans to build a home with a swimming pool in tiny Fort White, where he has lived for the past seven years. “I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else,” Randall says. “I love this place.” Fort White is off I-75 just south of the I-10 junction.
Randall says his winnings will also go toward a new computer and a boat. He says he might also travel the country and resume his scuba diving hobby.
Randall, who has played lottery since 1988, bought his ticket at S&S Food Store in Fort White. He returned to the store for a printout of winning lotto numbers and says he realized immediately he had won. “But I was in disbelief for a few minutes,” he recalls. “I kept looking at the numbers over and over.”
Later that day, he says his heart pounded while he kept his secret during a visit with his children. A few hours later, he contacted his mother to tell her the news. “She said I was kidding and went off to make a cup of tea,” Randall says. He went to her home that day and showed her the ticket.
Randall stored his ticket in a cabinet at his house while he kept working. Then he did what nearly every truck driver would love to do. “I told my dispatcher when I returned, this would be my last run, because I had won the lottery,” Randall says. “He said good luck to me and wished me well.”
His winning numbers: 10-20-31-33-34-48.
