Claims $50,000 prize playing $1,000,000 Platinum Play game
An inspiration that sent a 20-year-old Prince George’s County man on a mission to play a Maryland Lottery scratch-off made him $50,000 richer! The college student by day and waiter by night bought his lucky ticket on his way to work after an image of his mother, a big Lottery player and frequent winner, popped into his head.
In that moment, he felt compelled to buy a Lottery scratch-off.
“My mom absolutely loves scratch tickets and she has such luck with them,” he told Lottery officials. “Right when I thought of her, I was passing a Lottery store so I walked right in.”
Route 1 Discount Liquors at 10500 Baltimore Avenue in Beltsville was in the right place at the right time to get his business. The store rewarded him with two non-winning tickets in a row. “Twice I didn’t win with $5 tickets, so I told myself to play one more game, a $20 game,” said the Beltsville resident. He picked out the $1,000,000 Platinum Play scratch-off.
“I saw matches right away, lots of them.” Knowing the ticket was a winner but unsure about its worth, he asked the clerk to help him determine how much cash he had coming. “The guy’s jaw dropped when he looked at it,” said the lucky man. “That’s when I knew it was big.”
As he was a bit early for his shift, the loyal scratch-off player rushed home to share the great news with his mom. He literally ran!
“I was so excited to show her but she wouldn’t believe it at first,” he said. “Then, though, she started jumping around. We only had a few minutes before I had to leave for work, but it was a great few minutes.”
The lucky waiter plans to pay for college with his prize and save a little cash for a business idea he has. The $1,000,000 Platinum Play game still has plenty of prizes remaining. On sale since August 2016, the game has three $1 million top prizes still available as well as five more $50,000 winning tickets.
