Capitol Heights man finds his Maryland Lottery fortune with Great Big Bingo ticket
A Maryland school custodian received a fabulous belated birthday present this week – a $100,000 win on a Maryland Lottery Great Big Bingo scratch-off ticket.
Our 53-year-old winner has spent more than a year off the job while he recovers from a work-related back injury. Playing Maryland Lottery bingo scratch-offs is a favorite way to pass the time. He also enjoys visiting the District Heights store where he buys his tickets. The day after his birthday, the Capitol Heights man bought a Great Big Bingo instant ticket. He scratched it in the store and wasn’t sure if he had won anything so he took the scratch-off to the clerk. Sure enough, he held a winning ticket!
“They said they couldn’t cash it,” our winner recalled, and he forgot to ask how much he had won. The man and his wife, who is retired, and another relative drove to the Maryland Lottery claims center in Lanham that afternoon to claim the prize. However, he learned that he had won so much money he had to come to take the ticket to Lottery headquarters in Baltimore. At that point, the man thought his ticket was worth $10,000 but he still wasn’t completely sure. Because they couldn’t get from Lanham to Baltimore City before the claims office closed, the trio headed home.
“I had to sleep on it,” the winner said, smiling. He hid the ticket and slept well, not worrying a bit about its safety. His 53-year-old wife, however, kept waking up to check on the ticket’s safety!
When they arrived at Lottery headquarters the next day, he got the good news that his ticket was worth $100,000, not $10,000. “When they said, ‘You hit the jackpot,’ I knew then,” he said.
What will he do with the welcome winnings? “I’ll get a truck,” he said, “and the rest will be a nest egg.”
To visit the retailer of our winner’s lucky ticket, stop by the Lucky Lottery at 6029 Marlboro Pike in District Heights.