Homeless shelter employee wins $100,000 scratch-off prize
He was convinced it wasn’t real – that it was all a dream. But a 49-year-old Baltimore man was wide awake when he arrived at Maryland Lottery headquarters on Nov. 19 to cash in his $100,000 top-prize Blingo Bingo scratch-off ticket.
“I had a dream that I won a big lottery prize about a month ago, it was just the greatest – until I woke up. Then it was the worst,” said the lucky winner, who works as a custodian at a homeless shelter.
When he selected his lucky Blingo Bingo ticket he had no idea that he’d be reliving that imaginary experience, this time with his eyes open.
“When the cashier told me it was a $100,000 winner I was sure it was another dream, that I’d be waking up any minute,” he said.
A frequent player who started focusing on instant tickets last year, the lucky winner purchased his ticket at Y&S Check Cashing at 2101 East Monument Street on his way home from work one evening.
“There’s something about the Blingo Bingo ticket that catches my eye,” he said. “I took a couple home for later.”
He played his tickets after eating dinner, but couldn’t immediately tell how much he had won.
“I wasn’t positive, so I went to the first Lottery store I could find,” he said. “That’s when I got the news, and that’s when I just knew I was dreaming.”
The Baltimore man said he plans to buy a house, something that he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to do. He’ll also be taking good care of his mom this Christmas.
“When I told her about the $100,000, she refused to believe it,” he said. “She told me I was reading the ticket wrong, so her holiday will be a big surprise for her.”
Blingo Bingo is a $10 ticket that launched in April, and the ticket still has one more $100,000 winner available along with five $10,000 prizes. Y&S Check Cashing is a winner as well. For selling the ticket, the retailer will receive a $1,000 bonus from the Maryland Lottery.