A Bowie man is taking home the lottery prize of a lifetime thanks to his purchase of five $2 tickets for the Maryland-only jackpot game Multi-Match.
When he matched all six numbers in the Sept. 18 drawing, he hit the jackpot to the tune of $1.9 million, but waited a little more than a month and claimed the winnings on Oct. 28 at Lottery headquarters in Baltimore.
On Sept. 16, two days before the drawing, he had decided to take a break from playing the nationwide jackpot games Mega Millions and Powerball, opting instead to play the in-state game.
A Lottery regular, he said he likes his chances on Multi Match. The odds of a jackpot win on Multi-Match are 1 in 2,032,151.5 on a $2 ticket, which are more than 140 times better than the odds of a jackpot win on a $5 Mega Millions ticket or a $2 Powerball ticket.
It was Sept. 16 when he spent $10 on five sets of numbers, which gave him 15 shots at the jackpot because each $2 ticket includes three six-number combinations that has the possibility of winning. Though he had the option of selecting his own numbers for five of the combinations, with the other 10 being quick pick selections, he opted to let the computer do the work and went with all quick pick combinations.
He made his purchase at Forbes BP at 9701 Annapolis Road in Lanham, which receives a bonus of $1,900 for selling the jackpot winner.
The quick pick did the trick and on the first line of his second set of combinations, he matched all six of the numbers drawn.
The Prince George’s County resident was quite excited about his win, but said he and his wife are pretty much set, so their gameplan for the winnings is mundane at the moment: it’ll be sitting in the bank drawing interest.
