Anne Arundel County player claims top prize in November 29 drawing
After playing the same Bonus Match 5 numbers for years, “Pop Pop” of Churchton made a lucky mistake on the five-draw playslip he bought November 26. He changed his usual number 12 to 11 in error and the result was a $50,015 payday later in the week.
“I’ve been playing the same numbers for 20 years,” the 70-year-old said on Dec. 14, when he claimed his top prize at Maryland Lottery headquarters in Baltimore. On November 26, he had bought five nights of drawings using the numbers 2, 4, 7, 11 and 31.
“I kept it,” was “Pop Pop’s” solution to the situation. The fortunate error showed up among the winning numbers of the November 29 drawing. The significance of his favorite numbers is that 2 and 7 relate to a birthday and 4 to his anniversary. He doesn’t recall how he settled on 12 and 31! In addition to the $50,000 top prize, he won $15 on another line of his lucky ticket.
“Pop-Pop” found his good fortune at his favorite Lottery retailer, which is 7-Eleven # 28953 at 5809 Deale Churchton Road in Deale. “I go down there to get my coffee every day since I retired,” he said. In addition to playing Bonus Match 5, the winner said he occasionally tries his luck with Mega Millions and Powerball as well as scratch-offs.
The retired Anne Arundel County public works employee had no specific plans for the prize but his wife sure did! “We’ll be doing some remodeling,” she said. “Pop Pop” added, “We’ve got three grandchildren and they’ll each get some.”
For selling the top-prize winning ticket, 7-Eleven #28953 earns a bonus of $500 from the Lottery. The bonus is equal to 1 percent of the prize.
