Group Wins $50K Playing Powerball In Harford County

JOPPA, MD — A group of friends that has dubbed themselves the "Harford 26" recently won a total of $50,000 playing Powerball. The friends often meet over coffee and have gone in on lottery tickets together for the past 10 years, according to the Maryland Lottery.

Earl Marsh Jr., who purchased the group's ticket, said he picked the Royal Farms at 500 Joppa Farm Road for its history of good luck. Last year, the store sold a lottery ticket to a couple who cashed it in for $1 million in the Cash4Life game, lottery officials said.

Marsh bought the winning $50,000 Powerball ticket from the Joppa store in May, and the group picked up the winnings this month.

When he checked the tickets from the May 2 drawing, he told lottery officials he "saw a lot of zeroes."

Two members of the group of 24 entered twice, so they dubbed themselves the "Powerball 26." One member of the group had just joined before the purchase of the winning Powerball ticket.

After taxes, each person won $1,293, officials reported.

“When he told me we won, I had to see for myself,” Joe Moore Jr., one of the members of the Powerball 26. “I scanned the ticket on my phone and then rebooted my phone before checking again. I just couldn’t believe it.”

Moore, Marsh and another group member, Gary Sullivan, went to the Maryland Lottery headquarters to pick up the ticket this month.

Pictured, some members of the "Harford 26" posted for a photo with their big check. Photo by Maryland Lottery.