For a few minutes on Nov. 2, a retired federal employee believed he was experiencing a medical emergency, he told Lottery officials the next afternoon. Why tell it to the Lottery and not a doctor? Because it was a scratch-off ticket that caused his momentary distress.
It wasn’t just any ticket, but a $5,000,000 Fortune top-prize winner.
“My heart started beating so fast,” the Germantown man said Nov. 3 when he claimed his windfall at Lottery headquarters in Baltimore. “I had never felt like that before. It really felt like it was about to burst out of my chest.”
The latest Maryland Lottery millionaire is an everyday player and, on occasion, he splurges on $5,000,000 Fortune – a $50 game. It was pursuit of the $50 ticket that brought him to Town Center Sunoco at 19738 Germantown Road in Germantown over the weekend.
“I knew they sold the game, so I stopped in,” he said.
As the winner sat in his car trying to calm himself down, he stared at the match that had delivered his $5 million prize and decided to get a second opinion to confirm the win.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing so I sent some of my family a picture of the ticket. They each told me that it looked real to them,” he said.
The $5,000,000 Fortune game debuted in February with five top prizes. This win leaves one of those still in circulation. In addition, five $100,000 and seven $50,000 lower-tier prizes also remain unclaimed.
The Montgomery County family will dedicate their prize first to their children’s education. Owners of Town Center Sunoco receive a $5,000 bonus for selling the top-prize ticket.
