Four winning tickets in $88 million Florida Lotto

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (CNN) -- Four tickets matched the winning numbers in the estimated $88 million Florida Lotto jackpot, the fourth largest in state history, a lottery spokesman said Sunday.

Winners have 180 days from Saturday to claim their prizes in person at the lottery headquarters in Tallahassee, spokesman Roger Sockman said. No one has stepped forward as a winner so far. The estimated amount has been adjusted from $85 million to $88 million, Sockman said.

Each winner has the option of collecting about $8 million in cash after federal taxes are withheld, or receiving about $738,000 annually over 30 years, he said. Taxes also are withheld from annual payments.

Lump-sum payouts are about half of the advertised jackpot amount.

"We can't advise them. We can only give them these two options," Sockman said. "Ninety-five percent pick the cash option. We're told that their financial advisers tell them to invest the money themselves" to get a higher interest rate, he said.

If the state lottery agency invests the money, it is required to choose conservative investments that have been yielding about 5 percent, he added.

There were 498,000 other people who won lower-tier prizes for matching fewer numbers in the drawing.

The winning numbers from the 11 p.m. EST Saturday drawing were 33, 36, 41, 45, 46 and 50.

The tickets were purchased at a Hess Express convenience center in Brooksville, north of Tampa; a Welcome convenience store in Jacksonville; an Express Mart center in Miami; and a Star Liquors store in Wellington, near West Palm Beach.

Florida's Lotto started in 1988. The highest jackpot was $106 million in 1990, Sockman said.