A jackpot chaser who lives in New Mexico returned home to Maryland to visit his son and won a $50,000 Powerball prize. He matched four white balls and the red Powerball to take home the third-tier prize from the Aug. 27 drawing.
The big winner said he’s grateful that he used the numbers his wife chose.
“My wife picked the numbers a while back, and I’ve been using them ever since,” he said Sept. 3 when he claimed his prize at Lottery headquarters in Baltimore.
At the time, the Powerball jackpot had risen to $815 million and the federal employee decided it was time to get a ticket. The former Maryland resident was visiting with his son when he stopped at the Safeway at 20211 Goshen Road in Gaithersburg for groceries and a Powerball ticket.
Still in Maryland, the New Mexico resident didn’t check his ticket until a week later when he was at a Lottery retailer.
“When I scanned the ticket, it said to take it to the Lottery headquarters,” smiled the winner. “And, when I checked the game, I realized I missed the jackpot by only one number!”
That meant a $50,000 prize. He shared the news with his immediate family. He was the only third-tier winner from that drawing.
The soon to retire player, shared that he plans to use the winnings towards a retirement home in New Mexico. And, he plans to keep playing in search of the huge jackpot, which has ballooned to $1.8 billion for the Sept. 6 drawing.
