Arnold Husband’s Generosity Pays Off With $50K Win

ARNOLD, MD — Insanely long checkout lines at a grocery on the Saturday before Super Bowl Sunday inspired an Arnold man to do something he hadn’t done in about a year – buy his wife a few Maryland Lottery scratch-offs tickets.

“The grocery store was nuts,” said the restaurant manager in a news release. “The lines were crazy.”

His wife, who works the night shift as a nurse, enjoys playing scratch-offs so he brings a few games home for her every now and then. Green Valley Marketplace in Arnold was packed that day, so the father of two decided to let the lines die down before he checked out. Spotting an instant ticket vending machine in the store, the 42-year-old thought of his wife and decided to get her a few games.

“I left my cart, went to the machine, put in $15, stepped back and saw the Yahtzee game and got three Yahtzees,” he told Maryland Lottery officials.

When he got home, the Anne Arundel County man handed the games to his wife, but she was heading to bed to sleep before her night shift. “I decided to scratch one,” he said. Coming up without a win on the first game, he played the second game and revealed the big win on the last line.

“I said, ‘Oh, this isn’t right,’ ” the happy dad said, and headed upstairs to wake up his wife. “I was fanning my face with the ticket,” he said, as he asked her, “Do you want to call out sick tonight?” She saw the scratch-off in his hand and his news was out: They had won $50,000.

The winner’s wife scratched off the third instant ticket but it failed to yield a win. They plan to install hardwood floors in the house with their prize.

The $5 Yahtzee game still has four more unclaimed $50,000 top prizes, six $5,000 prizes and thousands of other prizes ranging from $5 to $1,000.

For selling a top-prize scratch-off in the game, the grocery located at 1238 Bay Dale Drive in Arnold earns a $500 bonus from the Lottery.

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