A Maryland Lottery regular from Clarksburg who won $250,000 playing Pick 5 had a bit of advice for other players when he claimed his prize on June 2: “The rule of thumb is, you’ve gotta play to win,” he said, reprising a longtime Maryland Lottery catch-phrase.
The Frederick County winner said he has been playing Lottery games since the inception in 1973.
His main games these days are Pick 3, Pick 5 and Cash4Life. Recently, he picked up a $5,000 win on Pick 5 early in the year, and has hit Cash4Life three times at the $2,500 level. Then, on May 31, he scored his $250,000 Pick 5 win.
He generally prefers to pick his own numbers, as he did when he bought five of the same combination for the week of May 25 through June 1. There was nothing special about the combination, 39943, but the first three digits caught his eye when they hit on a different drawing. He’s been playing that combination for more than a year.
As for his plans for the $250,000 windfall, he said: “This is going in the bank. Eventually, it’ll go into my house.”
He had one more piece of advice while claiming the prize: “Don’t go beyond your means. As much as I like to gamble, I never let it interfere with my life.”
The five winning tickets were purchased at Dash In, 3359 Urbana Pike in Frederick, which receives a bonus of $2,500, equal to 1% of the prize.
