It’s become his habit, a 56-year-old husband, father and grandfather from Calvert County told Lottery officials, to always check the Maryland Lottery website before purchasing a scratch-off. A review to determine which instant games have a good selection of big cash prizes available helps him identify the instant ticket to buy.
This technique paid off last week when his research led him to THE GAME OF LIFE™ at a Calvert County Lottery retailer. A few minutes later, he became the $20 instant ticket’s first $1 million top-prize winner.
“I scratched it in my car outside Lusby Liquors,” the system analyst said. “When I saw the $1 million prize, I got excited but I just knew that I’d messed something up, that I’d counted the spaces wrong, so I checked again.”
In fact, the Southern Maryland resident had not counted incorrectly, but did so in his hurried review of the instant ticket. “It was disappointing when I went through it a second time and found what I thought was my mistake.” Just to be sure, he pulled up his Lottery app on his phone and scanned the scratch-off. “That’s when I started shaking.”
A quick trip back inside the store confirmed the happy news. “I ran it through the scanner and all of the zeros were there.” Maryland’s newest millionaire tells us that he sat in the car for a few minutes to compose himself before driving home.
“I planned how to tell my wife but when I got home, I ended up scaring her, thinking that I had bad news.” His wife described the scene as worrisome at first and then joyous and very emotional.
They plan to pay off all debt and plan an extended-family vacation. “It’ll be the first time I’m debt free since high school,” the winner said. As for the vacation, “there are a lot of us now and it’s rare that we can all get together at the same time. This will help it happen.”
THE GAME OF LIFE debuted in October 2022 and has, until last Friday, guarded its five top prizes well.
Four more $1 million winning instant tickets remain as well as five $50,000 second-tier prizes and nine $10,000 prizes. His lucky Lottery retailer, Lusby Liquors, also benefits from selling a $1 million top-prize winning scratch-off. The Lottery will give the store at 11810 H.G. Trueman Road in Lusby a $1,000 bonus.
