 Lucky number 11 delivered a $50,000 pre-Halloween treat to this loyal scratch-off fan. |
Takes home top prize on Family Feud scratch-off game
A 42-year-old Maryland Lottery scratch-off fan won a sweet treat before Halloween and wasted no time claiming the $50,000 top prize on the Family Feud scratch-off game.
Nicknamed “Aadhya Maheshwari Katyayani” for Lottery publicity, the Columbia resident has a new lucky number – 11. “I was just looking at the ticket and saw number 11 was the winning number,” said the happy player. Hiding beneath his matching number of 11 was the $50,000 prize!
The loyal player was coming home from running errands for the weekend and decided to make a last-minute stop at Laurel Mart in Laurel to purchase scratch-offs. The next morning, the lucky man remembered the instant tickets and returned to the store to see if any were winners.
“I normally don’t scratch off the entire ticket,” the winner said. “Instead, I scratch the part that you scan to see if you win.” The ticket scanner didn’t give the player the amount of the prize but directed him to come to Lottery headquarters in Baltimore.
“We were confused because we thought it was a defective ticket,” said the Howard County man. He also wondered if the ticket scanner was defective.
“We decided to go to a nearby store to check our ticket,” the player said. “When they explained to us that we won big I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and thought it was all just a dream!” Sure enough, scratching off the game revealed lucky number 11 carried the big prize. Shock and awe followed.
With the winnings, “Aadhya Maheshwari Katyayani” plans to buy clothes for family members, get a new car and donate some of the prize to his place of worship.
Laurel Mart is also a winner. For selling a top-prize winning scratch-off in the $5 game, the store located at 820 Second Street in Prince George’s County earns a $500 bonus from the Lottery. There are still lots of unclaimed prizes remaining on the Family Feud scratch-off, including three more $50,000 top prizes and five $5,000 prizes.