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Claims $60,000 top prize on Orioles scratch-off
A Dundalk man who jumped on the Orioles’ season-winning bandwagon is singing a happy tune after winning $60,000 on the Maryland Lottery’s Orioles scratch-off.
Lucky Fred Darby hit a home run with his purchase of the popular baseball-themed ticket. “I stopped by a store on my way home and was in the mood to play,” Fred told Lottery officials. The construction worker wound up at Geresbeck’s Food Market at 3409 Dundalk Avenue in Baltimore.
“I was deciding which game to play when I thought of the fun I had following the O’s this season,” he said. “I figured that their luck might keep going for me.”
Home later with his father, Fred scratched his top prize ticket. “I noticed right away that I had a match, but when I saw the prize beneath it, I just went blank,” the 45-year-old said. “I couldn’t believe it.”
His father couldn’t believe it either, but for a different reason. Fred confessed that he had pretended to win Lottery prizes in the past. Convincing his dad that he really had won big on the $5 ticket was difficult. The two sat and talked for a long while, amazed by Fred’s luck and making plans for the prize.
Asked how the $60,000 would fit into his life, Fred replied the money would first go toward “bills, of course. The rest will go into savings for my two children.”
For selling the top-prize scratch-off, the retailer will receive a $600 bonus from the Lottery. While all top prizes on the ticket are claimed, the game still has more than 48,000 prize-winning scratch-offs of $5 to $5,000 available for purchase from Lottery retailers.