“Mr. Low Key,” of Gaithersburg is $1 million richer after claiming his prize June 21 on a $5,000 Loaded scratch-off ticket. |
Choice of new $5,000 Loaded ticket, pays high dividends for low-key dad
A loyal Maryland Lottery player, “Mr. Low Key,” of Gaithersburg, has won some substantial prizes in the past, including payouts in the $10,000 range, but the cool $1 million he claimed on June 21 makes all the others look tiny.
“It’s about time,” he laughed as he visited the Lottery’s Winner’s Circle room. The 50-year-old Montgomery County resident said he enjoys playing Lottery games a couple of times a week. His play technique varies, but here’s how he purchased his big winner:
“Mr. Low Key” has a preference for new tickets that have a full complement of top-tier prizes remaining, so he went to Brighton Beer & Wine at 225 Muddy Branch Road in Gaithersburg and picked up a $5,000 Loaded ticket – the $20 offering from the “Loaded” family of five tickets that launched in May. He then scratched off only the prize check area and scanned the ticket, and the message on the ticket checker said that he needed to go to Lottery headquarters. Realizing this could mean a big prize, he went back and scratched the latex coating off the play area to reveal a square that showed a coin with “$1,000,000” underneath it.
Just to be sure, he checked with the clerk at Brighton Beer & Wine (“Mr. Low Key’s” favorite place to play), and got confirmation of the big score. The retailer is a winner as well, picking up a bonus of $1,000 from the Lottery for selling a top-tier winner at the $1 million level.
“I said, ‘Keep it quiet,’ then I put it in my pocket and went home,” he recalls. He shared the news with his wife and kids, but other than that, he’s behaving as though nothing out of the ordinary has happened – in a low-key manner, so to speak. The win is the first top prize to be claimed on the $5,000 Loaded ticket, meaning another six at that amount are still waiting to be won. In addition, there are eight unclaimed prizes at the $50,000 level, 54 (of an original 56) at the $10,000 level and thousands of additional prizes ranging from $20 to $5,000.
As for his plan for the small fortune, “Mr. Low Key” says he has some medical bills he needs to pay off, and also a student loan. After that, he’ll be putting some away for his children and making some charitable and church donations.
And he’ll also keep playing the Lottery.
“Someday I may get something even bigger!” he says.
