Nagging Helps Grandfather Win $50K Scratch-off Prize

OXON HILL, MD — A Prince George’s County resident is such a regular at a Maryland Lottery retailer that the clerks remind him when new scratch-offs arrive. The father of three visited Harbor Market in Oxon Hill to buy Pick 3 and Pick 4 numbers for himself and his wife with no plan to buy the You Win scratch-off that gave him a $50,000 prize.

In fact, if not for the persistence of the clerk, he would have left without buying the lucky scratch-off.

“I wasn’t in the mood to play scratch tickets,” the 59-year-old told Maryland Lottery officials. “I went to the store to play my daily numbers and the lady behind the counter was like, ‘You need to buy one of these.’” She pointed out the $5 You Win game, which went on sale Aug. 22. “I said, ‘I don’t want one.’ She said, ‘But it’s new.’ I wasn’t going to buy a ticket but it was the first one in the book.”

That lucky scratch-off that he couldn’t pass up delivered the first of the game’s seven top-prizes.

“I looked at that ticket and I was like, ‘Hey, this is not right.’ I scanned it in the machine and it said ‘Go to Lottery’ and I knew it was right,” said the grandfather of four.

Retired after more than three decades at the Smithsonian Institution, the lucky player plans to put his prize in the bank. The Oxon Hill resident reports being no stranger to winning, especially when it comes to playing slots machines in Delaware. He and his wife, who accompanied him to Lottery headquarters to claim the prize, said he won enough playing slots to take his family on numerous summer vacations. His previous record win was $15,000 at a casino, said the happy player.

The quick-thinking store clerk helped her employer become a winner, too. For selling a top-prize scratch-off in the You Win game, Harbor Market at 5515 Livingston Road in Prince George’s County will receive a $500 bonus from the Lottery.

In addition to six more $50,000 prizes, the You Win ticket also has 20 unclaimed $5,000 prizes and thousands of additional prizes ranging from $5 to $1,000.