 Congrats to our Baltimore “Power Player,” who is the only Maryland player who won $50,000 and doubled the Powerball prize to $100,000 by adding the Power Play option to his ticket. |
Family members’ birth dates hold the key to Vietnam veteran’s big win
A Baltimore retiree who plays a special set of numbers on a regular basis was a big winner in the Jan. 13 Powerball drawing.
While he didn’t win the world-record jackpot that reached $1.6 million before being hit, the 68-year-old was the only player in Maryland who doubled his third-tier $50,000 prize to $100,000. How? He paid an extra $1 per game to add the Power Play option to his ticket. Hence, his Maryland Lottery nickname: “Power Player.”
The Jan. 13 drawing produced 24 other third-tier Maryland winners of $50,000.
This lucky winner plays a set of numbers that correspond to family members’ birth dates and years. The third line of numbers out of the five on his $15 ticket did the trick, matching four of the five white balls drawn along with the Power Ball. Even though he’s an avid Powerball player, he didn’t watch the drawing when it aired live at 11 p.m. on WBAL-TV.
“My daughter called me at about 12 and asked me if I’d entered,” he said. “And then, she started reading me the numbers and I jumped up out of bed because I knew I’d played those numbers.”
As he spoke to his daughter on the phone, he went to his desk to find his ticket.
“I looked at that ticket quite a few times,” he said with a laugh. “Then I went to the Internet to find out the payment. I’m very happy.”
After serving three years in the U.S. Army, including a tour of duty in Vietnam during which he was wounded, the winner came home and worked as a forklift operator. In addition to playing Powerball, he enjoys Mega Millions and the Pick 3 and Pick 4 drawings. The Lottery enthusiast is having an impressive run of luck. The largest Lottery prize he’d won prior to his $100,000 Powerball hit came less than two months ago, when he took home $5,000 in a Pick 4 drawing.
The lucky winner said he plans to use the prize money to pay bills, and will also put some toward a cruise he’s planning for next year with some of his Army buddies. He purchased his winning ticket at the Liquor Depot located at 5860 Baltimore National Pike in Baltimore.