Won third-tier Powerball Double Play prize in Jan. 1 drawing
A Baltimore jackpot chaser who won a $50,020 prize in the New Year’s Day Powerball Double Play drawing just zoomed into Lottery headquarters to claim his big win. Realizing time was running out to claim his fortune, the truck driver hauled in his lucky ticket.
The winner, who uses numbers of his choosing, told Lottery officials he often plays jackpot games. Typically, the 59-year-old buys tickets from obscure locations along his truck route. As 2021 came to an end, the Powerball jackpot had risen to $483 million for the Jan. 1 drawing. The avid player made sure to buy a ticket.
He stopped in Carroll County at the Marathon gas station located at 201 Hanover Pike in Hampstead to make his purchase. The loyal player bought five lines of Powerball numbers, adding both the Power Play multiplier and Double Play options, for the Jan. 1 and Jan. 3 drawings. To his surprise, the Powerball Double Play drawing on Jan. 1 gave him a $50,000 third-tier win. The ticket also won $20 for the bachelor.
“I’ll buy tickets throughout the month and not check them until the beginning of the next month,” the winner said. “I didn’t check those tickets from January until we were into February.”
The big winner scanned his collection of tickets using the Maryland Lottery App on his phone. When he came to the Jan. 1-3 Powerball ticket, the player saw a fuzzy “Congratulations” message appear on the screen.
“I didn’t have my glasses with me, so I didn’t know what I had won,” he said. “I knew it was something big.”
The player put the lucky ticket aside and decided to check it again when he had his glasses. That happened about a week later and the message, stating he had a $50,000 Double Play prize, was crystal clear. The lucky player then let a few more weeks go by.
“I knew I had a few months, but the time was getting shorter and shorter,” he said. “When I realized it was over 100 days, I made the appointment. I didn’t want the ticket to expire.”
Luckily, there was still time on the clock. Players have 182 days to redeem winning tickets. The big winner said he plans to add his winnings to his retirement fund.
He is one of three Powerball players to win third-tier Double Play prizes in 2022. The two other tickets were sold at EZ Quick Food Market in Pasadena on April 9 and Giant #348 in Clarksville on April 23.
