A Washington, D.C., man was seeing plenty of zeros, tipping him off that he had won the top prize of $1 million on the Maryland Lottery’s $1,000,000 Crossword scratch-off.
He was in the store scanning his ticket and couldn’t believe the message, he said June 2 when he claimed the prize at Lottery headquarters in Baltimore.
“It looked like three zeros and then I saw three more zeros,” the retired police officer said. He didn’t have his glasses with him, so he asked a friend at the store to check the ticket.
“He said, ‘Hey man, that is a lot of zeros!’” the big winner recalls hearing from his friend.
He plans to use his prize money to pay off his car and house. Then he wants to help out his daughter and grandchildren.
The District player reports he has been lucky enough over the years to the tune of winning a noteworthy prize about once a year. He is glad he finally won a top prize.
“I usually hit something for $1,000 or $5,000,” he said.
The scratch-off was purchased at Chillum Wine & Spirits at 5813 Eastern Avenue in Hyattsville. For selling the top prize winning ticket, the Prince George’s County retailer receives a $1,000 bonus.
The $1,000,000 Crossword scratch-off is a $25 ticket that went on sale starting in in February. The game started with four $1 million top prizes and the District player is the second person to claim a top prize, leaving two $1,000,000 winners that are unclaimed. Eight of the 10 second-tier $100,000 prizes also remain unclaimed, along with tens of thousands of other prizes ranging from $25 to $20,000.
