Though hidden by his $50,000 novelty check, the smile on the face of a dad from Sykesville is wide, and seemingly permanent, thanks to his third-tier win in the June 13 Powerball drawing.
Even at Lottery headquarters in Baltimore where smiles are commonplace, the joyful look on a Carroll County man’s face when he visited June 29 was noteworthy. It was a $50,000 third-tier Powerball prize he’d come to claim that widened his grin so, and from the looks of his family, his happiness was contagious.
The car wash attendant said he buys a ticket about once a week, but had no intention of buying one on June 13 when he stopped for gas after work.
“As I was waiting for the tank to fill, I remembered that it was a Powerball night – and Powerball is the game I play the most,” said the winner, who is using the name “Mr. Positive” to tell his story.
Despite this, so anxious was he to get home that even as he began pulling away from the pump, he hadn’t decided to get a ticket.
“At the last second, I parked at the convenience store and went in. I was so close to just leaving,” he said.
When the Sykesville resident checked his Powerball ticket a few days later, he was confused by the message on the Lottery scanner readout.
“It told me to take the ticket to the Lottery,” he explained. “I thought the machine was broken.” Pocketing his ticket, he decided to try it at another store the next day.
Happily for him, when met with the same instructions the next day, he was informed by a store clerk that the message meant that he’d won big.
“I was excited when she told me that, but I didn’t fully believe it,” he said.
When he eventually realized that his Powerball prize was $50,000, “Mr. Positive” recalls being speechless for a full minute.
“I tried to shout, to say anything. It just wouldn’t come.”
When his voice returned, his “Lottery smile” appeared. His overjoyed family reports that smile has not faded since.
Sykesville Convenience Store, where “Mr. Positive” found his Powerball luck, is at 887 Sandosky Road.
