Purchase of the same combination 25 times drains game’s prize pool on July 21
Purchasing the same Bonus Match 5 number 25 times for the July 21 drawing made it so a retiree from Prince George’s County can finally say: No more house payments!
The player, who is a Bonus Match 5 regular and rarely plays other Lottery games, matched all five of the regular numbers on all 25 tickets to win $576,900.
Typically, the game has a top prize of $50,000, but the top-prize pool amount is limited to $600,000. If more than 12 top-prize winning tickets are sold, the prize pool is divided equally among the winning tickets.
The Prince George’s County winner, who began the claims process this week, did not win the full $600,000 prize pool because another player in Harford County coincidentally purchased one ticket with the same lucky combination. Each of the 26 winning combinations sold is worth $23,076.
“I’ll be happy just to have my house paid off,” said the Prince George’s County winner.
Retired from the federal government after 30 years of service, she has played Bonus Match 5 for many years. The loyal player started out buying a single combination for the game’s daily drawings. One day, when she was buying her ticket, someone suggested she play the same combination multiple times to increase the prize if she won. It sounded like a good idea, and it is, up until the 12th time that combination is sold.
The winner was unaware of the prize pool limit, but took it in stride, saying, “That was a big disappointment, but that’s on me,” adding, “I’m very happy.”
Over the years, she has won lower-tier prizes – the game has prizes at $2, $15, $30, $400 and $600 for matching combinations other than the first five balls drawn – and ended up increasing those winnings by having multiple tickets.
The number of times she plays a single combination varies. Often it has been 24 times, but for the July 21 drawing, she bought 25. A woman of faith, she has prayed for the strength to remain calm if she ever won. Generally, she checks her tickets the morning after the drawing, but in this case, she had her phone with her just before bedtime. She checked, realized she had won, called and texted her son (who accompanied her to claim her prize) and then went to sleep without incident.
In addition to paying off her home mortgage, the winner plans to get her finances in order and give her sister a little financial help. After that, she may plan a celebratory vacation.
Also benefiting from the win is the 7-Eleven at 8200 Martin Luther King Jr. Highway in Glenarden. The Prince George’s County store receives a bonus of $5,769, equal to 1 percent of the winnings for each of the 25 tickets.
The prize on the 26th ticket, sold at the Forest Hill Sunoco on Rock Spring Road in Forest Hill, had not been claimed as of July 24.
Meanwhile, the Prince George’s County winner says she plans to keep on playing her favorite game every day with some modifications to her purchase strategy. As for the numbers that proved to be winners, she said they have significance in her life, but she didn’t want to reveal that because it would allow people to figure out who she is and she wants to remain anonymous.
