Wins $50,000 playing Lottery’s Bonus Match 5 game
James Adams of Upper Marlboro battled his way through a midweek snowstorm to reach Maryland Lottery headquarters in Baltimore, armed with the knowledge that he had a winning Bonus Match 5 ticket, but not really believing it.
The U.S. Army veteran told Lottery officials that he’d occasionally been surprised by experiences while serving at military posts around the world but never so much as when he checked the game’s winning numbers for the Jan. 20 drawing. He scored the Lottery’s first $50,000 Bonus Match 5 win of 2015 using his favorite lucky numbers.
“Last week, I cleaned out some boxes and found one of my old Bonus Match 5 playslips,” James said. On Jan. 20, when the 60-year-old put his old lucky numbers to the test, he was with friends at the My Hicks store in Cheltenham.
“I was playing Keno with some friends and, when I was half way out of the door, decided to try (the game). I hadn’t played Bonus Match 5 in a long while,” he said. Before turning in for the night, James checked the Lottery drawing results. “I felt like I was in a dream!”
The group home counselor and his wife have no immediate plans for their winnings. He will keep his lucky Bonus Match 5 numbers handy for the next time he visits My Hicks at 11201 Crain Highway in Cheltenham. For selling the top-prize ticket, the store will receive a $500 Lottery retailer bonus.