“Mr. Lion Grass” from Baltimore won a $1 million second-tier prize in the Sept. 3 Powerball drawing.
A Baltimore man who calls himself “Mr. Lion Grass” allocates some funds to playing Powerball and Mega Million every week, and when the jackpot topped $1 billion a few weeks back, he purchased a few more plays and ended up with a second-tier prize of $1 million.
His ticket had multiple combinations for the Sept. 3 drawing when he hit big, and he also matched the Powerball on one of the others, increasing his prize to $1,000,004.
“Mr. Lion Grass” normally buys his lottery tickets at a Sunoco gas station near his home, however the ATM he prefers to use was near another gas station and a different retailer, so he ended up buying his winning ticket at the Slade BP gas station at 524 Reisterstown Road in Pikesville.
The winner usually buys quick pick tickets, but another lottery player suggested he abandon that strategy in favor of picking his own Powerball numbers based on the ages and birthdates of family and friends.
After buying his ticket on Sept. 2 for the next day’s drawing, he didn’t check his ticket until six days later, on Sept. 8. Waiting until so long after the the drawing may seem like a very long time, but it was actually an improvement considering he usually waits weeks before he checks his tickets.
On the morning of Sept. 8, his wife told him to check his Powerball ticket. He scanned his ticket using the Maryland Lottery app and initially thought he won a $100,000 prize, but then he checked again, with his wife’s help, and that’s when they realized it was worth $1,000,004. The $1 million prize comes when a Powerball combination matches all five of the white balls drawn, but not the Powerball.
“Mr. Lion Grass” claimed his prize Sept. 15 and said at that time nothing about his life will change as a result of the win. He works as a disability counselor and enjoys what he does. He and his wife plan to use their winnings to invest and possibly take a vacation.
Slade BP will collect a $2,500 bonus as the retailer for selling the second-tier Powerball winner.
