Dad uses extra cash to buy lottery ticket before work — then has to wake up wife
When one Maryland dad of two had a bit of extra cash before work in October, he thought he would try his luck with the Powerball.
He plays the game every once in a while, he told Maryland Lottery officials in a Jan. 18 news release, and saw that the jackpot prize had passed $1 billion.
He bought a ticket at a Beltsville Exxon and used numbers he had played before.
Planning to check the Powerball numbers later that night, he settled in for a day of work and then forgot about the drawing.
The next morning, he decided to take a look at the results. He had missed the Powerball jackpot by one number.
But that wasn’t all — he was still a winner.
“I scanned my ticket and the message said I was a $50,000 winner,” he told lottery officials. “I had to wake my wife up because I was so excited.”
The information technology professional went back into the same Exxon a few days later and heard the owner bragging about selling the winning ticket at his store.
“I smiled on the inside, because he was talking about me,” the winner said. “I didn’t want anyone to realize it was me, so I kept calm.”
Wanting to hold off until the winning news died down, the father waited until 2024 to claim his prize, he told lottery officials.
He says he plans to pay off some debt, give money to charity and help his daughter pay for college with the winnings.
Beltsville is about 15 miles northeast of downtown Washington, D.C.
This story was originally published January 18, 2024 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Dad uses extra cash to buy lottery ticket before work — then has to wake up wife."
