Florida Lottery Closes Multiple District Offices Ahead Of Hurricane Milton

Photo showing Florida Powerball tickets for a story about the Florida Lottery announcing it has closed two district offices on Monday in anticipation of Hurricane Milton arriving this week.

The Florida coast is preparing itself for Hurricane Milton to make landfall in the coming days.

In preparation for what is expected to be a powerful storm surge, the Florida Lottery is closing some of its regional offices.

Florida is not among the states with online lotteries, so this storm is likely to impact many retail operations in the coming week.

Fort Myers, Tampa locations closed starting Monday

The Florida Lottery has announced on its website this it is closing its Fort Myers and Tampa district offices. Closings began at noon on Monday and will last until further notice.

The state has 10 different lottery offices, where you can cash in large prizes and deal with any questions or issues that arise from playing the Florida Lottery.

With Fort Myers and Tampa now unavailable, there are still offices located in:

  • Gainesville
  • Jacksonville
  • Miami
  • Orlando
  • Pensacola
  • Tallahassee
  • West Palm Beach

More offices could see closures if Milton creates flooding or damage to these areas and makes it unsafe for customers to travel.

The North Carolina Lottery went through similar procedures due to the flooding and wind damage caused by Tropical Storm Helene.

Its Asheville and Charlotte offices closed on Friday, Sept. 27. While Charlotte has reopened, the Asheville office remains closed entering this week.

Milton expected to be Category 3 hurricane at landfall

Coming off Helene, Hurricane Milton looks to be just as threatening.

Currently listed as a Category 5 hurricane in the Gulf, weather forecasters are hoping the storm will downgrade to a Category 3 by the time it hits landfall on Wednesday night.

Milton’s path is expected to affect the majority of the west coast of Florida, which would include Tampa and Fort Myers.

On Monday, Lee County, where Fort Myers is located, issued a mandatory evacuation for cities along the coast, including Bonita Springs, along with parts of Fort Myers and Estero. These evacuations are for areas expected to receive 6-9 feet or more of storm surge flooding.

Hurricane Milton evacuation zones are also being issued in Hillsborough County, where Tampa is located, for those closest to the coast and in mobile homes. The area is anticipating 8-12 feet of storm surge flooding.

Wind surges in both areas are expected to reach over 100 mph.

Tampa International Airport will close operations on Tuesday at 9 a.m. Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers hasn’t announced a closure as of yet, but is providing day-to-day updates.

Orlando International Airport has said it will close on Wednesday morning due to the oncoming storm.

 

Photo by Wilfredo Lee / AP

About the Author

Drew Ellis

Drew Ellis

Lead Writer
A member of Catena Media since 2020, Drew Ellis is the Lead Writer at PlayiLottery, where he handles coverage of the online lottery industry in the US. He previously spearheaded news content at PlayMichigan, where he covered one of the most prominent online lottery industries in the US — among the many other aspects of Michigan's sprawling iGaming market. You can email him at [email protected].
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