Switches games after Racetrax horses deny him a win
A Bowie resident who visited Lottery headquarters recently confessed that his game of choice is typically Racetrax. But his choices may be changing after he won a $30,000 prize on Jan. 3 playing Keno at Gem Liquors in Lanham. The retail site is one of his favorite places to watch the Racetrax horses gallop around the track because his “hangout buddies” are frequently there and the store employees are friendly.
Last week, however, his horses had lost their get up and go.
“I wasn’t doing well on Racetrax,” he said. The father of one decided to buy a $6 ticket for three drawings of Keno instead. “I like to play the 3s,” he said, so he placed an 8-spot wager with a Bonus multiplier selecting the numbers 3, 13, 23, 33, 43, 53, 63 and 73.
While the Keno numbers materialized one-by-one on the video monitor, he chatted with his friends. The first two games passed without a win. “We were just talking and I looked up and I said, ‘I have seven out of eight!’” he recalled. “I didn’t believe it.” He looked away and the very next number to appear gave him a solid win. “I said, ‘Look, I got it! I got it!’”
The 3x Bonus multiplier in the third game tripled his prize to $30,000. After signing the back of the lucky ticket, the winner took it home to keep it in a safe place until he could claim his prize at Lottery headquarters. The government employee plans to use his windfall to pay down debt and will also make a few investments. This is by far his largest prize to date and tops his previous big score of $5,000.
His lucky Lottery retailer is also a winner for selling a winning Keno ticket of $10,000 or more. For its role in his big win, Gem Liquors located at 9443 Annapolis Road in Lanham will receive a $300 bonus from the Lottery. The bonus is equal to 1% of the prize.
