Wins $50,000 playing Keno five years after $1 million win
A very lucky Baltimore man is celebrating a second big Maryland Lottery win, this time involving the game of Keno. His first celebration followed his 2012 $1 million scratch-off win. Five years later, he’s in the money again with a $50,000 Keno prize.
“It’s kind of unreal,” he said. “I don’t even play much Keno.”
Lottery luck knocked on this real estate investor’s door earlier this week. He was in Budget Liquors in Baltimore when he decided to play two rounds of Keno. The married father of two picked some random numbers – 7, 11, 53, 58, 64, 72 and 79 – and added the Super Bonus prize multiplier feature to his 7-spot games. Later in the day, he watched the drawings at home on his phone. One by one, his numbers appeared and shock set in.
“Because I don’t play Keno a lot, I didn’t know how much it was for,” he said. “I thought maybe a few $1,000s.”
The 35-year-old visited another Lottery retailer to scan the ticket. That’s when the ticket checker delivered the message to come to Lottery headquarters in Baltimore to claim his prize. He still didn’t know the size of his prize until he called a friend who has Lottery games for sale in his restaurant.
“He told me, ‘Man, you won $50,000,’ ” the winner said, smiling. “This is nice, this is really nice.”
The fortunate player told Lottery officials he gave his wife an important message in 2012 at the time of his last big win. “I told her that we will never be broke,” he said. “So many Lottery winners lose their money within five years and I didn’t want that to happen to us.”
He took the $1 million prize and invested the money, the winner said. He plans to put most of his $50,000 Keno prize in the bank. The rest will go for a vacation and to a charity.
Lucky Budget Liquors is also a winner! The city retailer located at 7000 Eastern Avenue in Highlandtown will receive a $500 bonus for selling a winning Keno ticket of $10,000 or more. The bonus is equal to 1 percent of the prize.