With one more drawing remaining in the Maryland Lottery Holiday Raffle, the third $50,000 Early Bird prize has been claimed by a Waldorf man.
The winner said he usually purchases his Lottery tickets at Foods In, located at 12549 Mattawoman Drive in Waldorf.
After the Dec. 22 Early Bird drawing, he was visiting the Charles County convenience store and the news had spread that a winning $50,000 Holiday Raffle ticket was sold there. One of the customers pulled up the winning number 166251 on his phone.
“I looked at the number on his phone and it looked very familiar to me,” said the Waldorf resident, who is using the alias “Foods In Winner” since he purchased the ticket at the store.
The retired government worker said he made a phone call to his wife and asked her to get out the raffle ticket. As soon as he got home, he scanned the ticket using the ticket checker in the Maryland Lottery mobile app and learned he had won $50,000.
Foods In Winner added he is a regular Lottery player and likes to play the number 612. With the Holiday Raffle, there are no numbers to choose. Tickets are sold in sequential order, numbered from 000001 to a maximum of 325000. He ended up with 166251 when he bought his Holiday Raffle ticket on Dec. 17.
“I was happy because it was close to my base number 612,” the winner said, adding that he hasn’t yet decided how he will spend his prize. But he said that he’s looking forward to the final drawing coming up on Jan. 2, 2026. On that day, every Holiday Raffle ticket that has been sold will be eligible to win one of 10,011 prizes, including one top prize of $1 million; 10 prizes of $100,000; and 10,000 prizes ranging from $50 to $500.
Holiday Raffle tickets went on sale starting Nov. 3 with a maximum of 325,000 tickets available. The tickets will remain on sale through Jan. 1, 2026, or until all 325,000 are sold, whichever comes first. In each drawing, the winning numbers are selected from the range of tickets that have been sold. Tickets are $20 and are available at any Maryland Lottery retailer.
