Annapolis Uber Driver to Buy Daughter a Car With $50K Winner

ANNAPOLIS, MD — A little bit of luck put an Uber driver from Annapolis on the road to riches with a $50,000 top-prize scratch-off win on the Maryland Lottery’s Magic Number Bingo game.

Ines Arturo Velasquez, 37, bought the $5 instant ticket with several others while at the Shoppers store in Annapolis. His shift was about to start so the Anne Arundel County resident stopped in and quickly shopped.

“I was on my way out when the Lottery machine caught my eye,” Velasquez said. “I scratched a couple (of instant tickets) in Shoppers and finished the others at a local gas station.”

The occasional Lottery player looked at the winning Magic Number Bingo scratch-off and simply didn’t know what to think. He asked the cashier at the gas station to check the instant ticket to see if it really was a winner.

“The cashier is my friend and he jokes with me all of the time,” Velasquez told the Maryland Lottery. “When he told me I won big, I thought he was joking again.” The lucky player realized this was no joke when he saw a printout of the cash amount. “You’re not kidding,” the delighted winner told his friend.

Excited and happy, Velasquez went home and postponed his Uber duties for the day. The winnings will give the happy dad needed money to buy his 16-year-old daughter a car. The lucky man also plans to use some of the prize to pay off credit card bills and go on vacation with his daughter to his home in El Salvador.

For selling a top-prize scratch-off in the game, the Anne Arundel County supermarket, located at 2371 Solomons Island Road in Annapolis, will receive a $500 bonus from the Lottery.

»Photo: Uber driver Ines Arturo Velasquez of Annapolis is ready to travel after a $50,000 top-prize win playing the Magic Number Bingo game, courtesy of the Maryland Lottery.