Wins $50,000 Playing Gold Bar Bonus Scratch-off
Last week started off with some pretty tough news for Paul Berlen, a volunteer firefighter from Galena. His full-time sales job had suddenly become a no-time job when his company downsized and, with no immediate prospects, facing the next few weeks and months was going to be a struggle. A little voice and a big lottery ticket then entered the story.
“I went to the store to get batteries for my fire-pager and decided to try a scratch-off,” Paul told officials. “It wasn’t a winner but, as I was walking out, a voice told me to try one more.” He scratched that extra ticket, the Gold Bar Bonus game, and saw immediately that he’s won $10,000. He went straight home to share the news with his mom and girlfriend. His mom saw that he hadn’t finished the game and reminded him to scratch the rest. “All of a sudden the $10,000 became $30,000 – you should have heard us yelling.” Celebration #3 came when Paul’s girlfriend noticed that there was a little more of the ticket to scratch. That last bit of latex was covering an additional $20,000 bringing Paul’s total win to $50,000.
Paul’s winnings will help with an engagement ring (Congratulations!) and a new truck. As for future employment, Paul thinks that the police academy may be the place for him. As he was leaving Lottery Headquarters Paul admitted, “I still can’t believe all this is real.” Paul found his Lottery luck at the Country Store, 2815 Northeast Road in North East, Md.