New Yorker Visiting Maryland Wins $30,000 Playing Mega Millions

Self-described ‘low-key person’ has low-key plans for winnings

He’s a quiet person, the winner said, and he has simple plans for the $30,000 he won on a Mega Millions ticket bought in St. Mary’s County for the Dec. 17 drawing.

“It’s a very good thing that happened to me,” said the New York resident, who was in the St. Mary’s County community of California to visit his brother. The 63-year-old is a Lottery regular, playing jackpot and other games in his home state as well as New Jersey and other places he visits. Although he’s won amounts up to $5,000 before, this $30,000 Mega Millions prize is his biggest win to date.

The Long Island man claimed his prize at Maryland Lottery headquarters on Jan. 11 as he was traveling home. While happy about his Lottery luck, the Empire State winner kept a poker face.

“I am a very low-key person,” he said. His plans for the winnings are low-key: pay off his car and then evaluate his options. He bought his hot ticket at BJ’s Wholesale Club #317 at 44950 Worth Lane in California, winning a third-tier prize by matching four regular balls plus the Mega Ball. The third tier prize is typically $10,000, but he paid an extra $1 to add the Megaplier option to his ticket. That option multiplies non-jackpot prizes by a randomly generated factor. For the Dec. 17 drawing, the multiplier factor was X3.

The Mega Millions jackpot for the Dec. 17 drawing was $160 million, but has since grown to $325 million for the next drawing on Jan. 14. The cash option is $224.1 million.