Father-son duo claims game’s top prize
A Baltimore father-son team split a $50,015 Bonus Match 5 prize on Monday, after playing for years with the understanding that if either won a significant prize they would share the windfall. Saturday’s Bonus Match 5 drawing put that agreement to the test and the pair happily met the challenge.
“It was Mega Millions that made this happen,” the dad reported. The retired steel worker already had his tickets for the week – Bonus Match 5 is a favorite – when the pull of a $444 million Mega Millions jackpot got to him.
“I got one more Mega Millions ticket and, while I was there, I bought one more multiday Bonus Match 5, too,” said the 70-year-old loyal player. Last Sunday morning, dad checked his quick-pick numbers against the winning numbers on the Lottery’s website. “I must have looked at the ticket 15 times,” he admitted. “When I was almost positive that we’d won the $50,000, I called my son over to look.”
Matching three of the five winning numbers on another line of the ticket boosted their top-prize win by $15.
The two tell us that the excitement of the $50,015 win kept them up Sunday night. “It’s tough to sleep with this kind of thing going on.”
The Bonus Match 5 team will pay off bills with their winnings. According to the 46-year-old son, “We each have bills that will be very nice to get rid of … a big relief.” The winners and their families also may spend some of the prize traveling.
One fact is certain — that travel will take this winning duo farther from home than the Shell gas station at 2020 Merritt Boulevard in Dundalk. Merritt Boulevard Shell is the Lottery retailer that sold the father the $50,015 top-prize winning ticket. The lucky Baltimore County retailer can also celebrate; it earned a $500 bonus from the Lottery for selling the top-prize ticket in the game. This is the 24th top-prize winning Bonus Match 5 ticket sold in 2019.