Family Birthdays Bring Big Powerball Win to Fort Washington Man

Claims $100,000 prize from Jan. 10 drawing

The Powerball jackpot does not need to be huge for a Prince George’s County man to buy a ticket. He just enjoys playing the game and using his own numbers to do so. The 75-year-old did just that on Jan. 10 and his lucky numbers paid off with a $100,000 prize!

“My wife actually picked the numbers,” said the winner. “They are birthdays of family members.”

The dad and granddad filled out the Powerball playslip with those lucky numbers and bought the $20 ticket at Allentown Liquors located at 6321 Allentown Road in Camp Springs. He didn’t watch the drawing that night or check the ticket until early the next morning. When he used the Lottery app on his phone, the family man received the message everyone longs to see: “Congratulations, you’re a winner!”

“I was like, ‘Whoa, I have something here,’” he said. “It woke me up pretty good.”

Being so familiar with the game, the Fort Washington resident knew he had a $100,000-winning ticket. When going over his numbers, he noticed he matched four white balls and the red Powerball for a $50,000 prize. However, he had added the Power Play multiplier option to his games and the x2 multiplier doubled his prize to $100,000.

“I woke up my wife,” he told Lottery officials. “I said, ‘Look, this is a $100,000 winning ticket!’” He said his wife jumped for joy and immediately thought of ways to spend the prize.

Although confident about his win, the player still wanted to double-check the ticket. He visited a Lottery retailer later that morning who confirmed his win! Our Powerball fan later shared the news with his children and his sister. She and his wife accompanied him to claim the prize at Lottery headquarters this week.

The retired federal employee told Lottery officials that he plans pay off some debt with the winnings, help his family with their financial needs and save the rest.

Players have plenty of time to buy a Powerball ticket for the next drawing on Saturday, Jan. 15. The jackpot is $48 million with a cash option of $33.3 million.