Cold Temperatures Award $10K Prizes to Second-Chance Winners

Donna Dortch of Glen Burnie and Julie Sweeney of Sykesville each found a new love for the cold after both won $10,000 in Keno Ice Cold Cash promotion.

Keno Ice Cold Cash promotion pays players for cold temperatures through Feb. 9

Most Marylanders are tired of the cold weather, but ten Lottery winners used the freezing temperatures to put $10,000 into their pockets, thanks to the Keno Ice Cold Cash second-chance promotion.

Players who enter winning and non-winning Keno tickets into My Lottery Rewards through Feb. 9 will have a chance to win up to $10,000. Each week, five winners are selected to win a cash prize ranging from $2,500–$10,000. The prize is determined by the lowest recorded temperature from the National Weather Service at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) the previous week. The colder the temperature, the bigger the prize.

If the temperature is 45 degrees and above it results in a $2,500 prize. Anything between 35 to 44 degrees will pay out $5,000. If the temperature dips between 25 to 34 degrees, the prize grows to $7,500. And anything below 25 degrees will result in the top prize of $10,000. While the rest of us were freezing, our winners were all smiles as the temperature was well below 25 degrees the past couple weeks resulting in the $10,000 prize.

A few winners from the first drawing claimed their prizes this week at Lottery Headquarters, including Donna Dortch of Glen Burnie and Julie Sweeney of Sykesville.

Donna said she didn’t know she had won. According to the Anne Arundel County resident, she kept scanning her Keno tickets into her My Lottery Rewards account but didn’t know they were going toward the promotion.

Then she received an email from the Lottery’s second-chance drawings manager alerting her that she had won $10,000.

“I was surprised and had no idea. It came at a good time as I was having a bad day when it happened,” Donna explained.

The recent empty nester said she and her husband will probably use the money for “fun and bills”.

Julie Sweeney, a Carroll County resident, said she didn’t believe she won until she checked the Lottery’s website. The retired nursing home worker, who plans to pay off bills, said she now appreciates frigid weather.

“I hated the cold. Now I love it,” Julie said with a smile.