Buying Home for His Peeps with Scratch-off Prize
Why did the Delaware poultry worker cross the road into Maryland? To visit his fiancé in Hurlock and buy a winning Maryland Lottery scratch-off ticket, of course!
The 59-year-old scratched off his $50,000 Platinum Crossword winning ticket in January, keeping it in a plastic bag until he could bring what he thought was a $20,000 winner to Lottery headquarters in Baltimore. His confusion ended when the Lottery Winner’s Lounge door opened and he saw a giant check for $50,000 with his name on it. “What? $50,000! Look at all those zeroes!” he said, grinning. That’s no chicken scratch!
The Bridgeville resident favors the Maryland Lottery’s $5 bingo scratch-offs. On Jan. 18, the day of his big win, the grandfather of twins bought two bingo scratch-offs but didn’t win.
“Something said to play the crossword puzzle,” the bachelor said. “I don’t like the puzzles but something said, ‘Play the puzzle.’ ” When he decided to buy a $3 puzzle scratch-off, his instinct insisted he buy the $5 scratch-off, instead. Our lucky player bought two $5 Platinum Crossword scratch-offs and returned to the store with a winning ticket that he thought was worth $20. Not so, said the clerk, who didn’t reveal the amount of the prize but directed the Sussex County resident to head to Baltimore. He showed the ticket to another player, who thought it was worth $20,000. Even his fiancé thought the scratch-off was worth $20,000.
“I’m shocked,” the man said. “This is the most I’ve ever won in my life.”
After years of renting, our happy winner plans to use the prize as a down payment on a house for his family and the twin peeps. “I need a home for the grandbabies,” he said. Our winner found his Lottery luck at Goose Creek #10 at 105 Delaware Ave. in Hurlock.