Husband claims first top prize on new $30 game
A Western Maryland couple will never forget Memorial Day 2018 because that’s the day they became multimillionaires! The lucky husband, who was running an errand for his wife at a Frederick County grocery store, found the first $2 million top prize on the Maryland Lottery’s $2,000,000 Mega Bucks scratch-off game.
“My wife had sent me off to the supermarket to get some food for our Memorial Day cookout,” said the happy scratch-off fan. He wound up at Giant Eagle #1842 in Frederick.
“That’s when I decided to buy a few of the Mega Bucks scratch-offs,” he said. “The first four tickets I scratched were not winners. I almost walked away but at the last minute, I decided to buy just one more ticket.”
What a lucky decision! Acting on his intuition that the next $30 instant ticket would carry a big prize changed the couple’s lives.
“When I initially got the call from my husband, I thought he was joking,” said the winner’s wife, who joined him at Lottery headquarters in Baltimore to claim the prize. “I thought maybe he won $200 but never thought in a million years that he actually won $2,000,000. I’m still in shock about it.”
The excited couple, who have been married for nearly 60 years, took the prize’s cash option. The Lottery will pay each of the game’s $2 million prizes in an annuity of 20 equal annual payments unless winners take the “cash” payment option. The cash option pays less than the annuity amount.
The merry multimillionaires plan to pay off their home mortgage and bills with the prize and take their family on a tropical vacation to celebrate their newfound fortune.
The $2,000,000 Mega Bucks game remains packed with big prizes. Players can hunt for four more unclaimed $2 million top prizes along with six $50,000 prizes and thousands of others ranging from $30 to $5,000. This is the second $30 scratch-off launched by the Lottery, which in 2017 began selling its first $30 scratch-off, $2,000,000 Fortune. One $2 million top prize remains in that game.
Also celebrating and in the money is the lucky Lottery retailer. Giant Eagle #1842 located at 1305 West 7th Street in Frederick earns a $2,000 bonus from the Lottery for selling a top-prize winning instant ticket in the game.