Columbia Man Wins $50K Playing Powerball

COLUMBIA, MD — A Columbia man learned he was a $50,000 Powerball winner this week. He was cleaning out his wallet at the Kings Contrivance Exxon when he discovered the news, the Maryland Lottery reported.

The 47-year-old father of three said he stopped at the Exxon at 7201 Eden Brook Drive on Monday to get gas and buy Powerball and Mega Millions tickets. He purchases tickets and checks them periodically, keeping them in his wallet until he is at a lottery retailer.

“My wallet was getting thick,” the Columbia resident told the Maryland Lottery.

To his surprise, he found he was a $50,000 winner in the Jan. 6 Powerball drawing and had won $13 from other tickets he checked that day. He claimed his prize at the Maryland Lottery headquarters on his way to work as a Baltimore business owner.

He called his wife to let her know the news and told lottery officials, while he already had made special plans for Valentine's Day next week, "This might turn it up a notch."

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