Columbia man claims his prize
The friendship and camaraderie a Columbia man finds playing Keno twice a week keeps him coming back for more, the 52-year-old player told Maryland Lottery officials. Winning a $50,000 prize helps, too!
“My buddies and I, six or seven of us, get together a couple of times each week at different stores to play Keno,” he said. “We cheer on each other’s numbers and celebrate the wins.”
Such was the case in early April. After a run of bad luck, the Howard County resident asked his friend to lend him some Keno numbers for a 7-spot bet. “He said, ‘Sure,’ and showed me the seven numbers he was playing for the next game,” the player said.
Those numbers were 3, 6, 12, 16, 17, 22 and 26; our lucky winner added the Super Bonus feature to the ticket, too, which wound up giving his prize a 4x multiplier.
Several minutes later, as their Keno game began, our winner heard his friend catch his breath. “Our first five numbers had appeared, which meant a nice prize,” he said. “That’s when I began staring at the screen.” Before long, the sixth number popped up and the group became very quiet. All eyes were on the Keno monitor.
“It took until the last number for our 26 to show up,” the happy player said. “We both stood up and did the Rocky pose, arms up in victory.”
The winner plans to pay bills with his prize and may take a trip to Las Vegas. He and his friend found their Keno luck at the Quick Save Mart at 524 Defense Highway in Annapolis.
The lucky Lottery retailer wins, too. For selling a winning Keno ticket of $10,000 or more, the store receives a bonus equal to 1 percent of the prize – $500!