A Brooklyn, N.Y.-born merchant marine made a million-dollar stop at Maryland Lottery headquarters July 21 to claim a top prize on the Lucky 777 scratch-off game.
Beaming as he smiled his way through his tale of becoming a Lottery millionaire, the New York native chose to remain anonymous.
A lifelong lottery player, the mariner says he’s had small wins in the past, but nothing close to this potentially life-changing amount.
“I’ve been playing for as long as I can remember,” he said after claiming his prize. “I find it entertaining and when I win. It’s like an adrenaline rush.”
The commercial sailor’s latest assignment brought him to the Port of Baltimore. After finishing work early one day, he stopped at the 7-Eleven at 1465 Key Highway in Baltimore’s Locust Point port community. Sticking to his routine, he purchased five $20 Lucky 777 scratch-offs.
After scratching the prize check on each ticket to reveal QR codes, he asked the clerk to scan his tickets.
“They told me I won $100,000,” he said. “I was satisfied with that and left.”
Later that evening, however, he showed the ticket to his crew, and they encouraged him to scratch the full play area.
That’s when the real shock came: turns out the clerk was off by a factor of 10, having missed a zero when reporting the prize amount.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I was floored. For the first time in my life, I was speechless. Turns out the ticket was worth $1 million.”
After discovering the full value of the prize, the winner has only shared the news with a few close family members and, of course, his crew.
As for plans with the windfall? He’s keeping a level head.
“I plan to keep working. I want to be smart with it and save as much as I can for retirement,” he said.
His lottery playing days are far from over. After leaving Lottery headquarters, he said he planned to pick up a few Mega Millions tickets. The annuity jackpot for the July 22 drawing stood at $110 million.
The winning ticket not only brought a huge prize for the player, but also a $1,000 bonus for the 7-Eleven where he bought it.
On the market since mid May, the Lucky 777 ticket started with six prizes at the $1 million level. The merchant marine’s prize reduces the number unclaimed at that level to three. Also remaining are tens of thousands of other prizes ranging from $20 to $50,000.
