Claims $50,000 prize in Dec. 16 Powerball drawing
A 64-year-old Ohio man, who celebrated a birthday earlier this month, received an awesome belated birthday present from the Maryland Lottery. He won a $50,000 Powerball prize!
The jackpot game enthusiast plays only Powerball and Mega Millions, buying one ticket for each of the two drawings. He followed that weekly routine when he was grocery shopping at Giant #313 in Germantown on Friday, Dec. 15. Before leaving the store, the architect picked up his Powerball and Mega Millions tickets, tossed them into his glove compartment and headed home.
“I always put them in there and check them later,” said the Dublin, Ohio resident, who works in Maryland. “On Sunday, I pulled them out and started to check the stack of tickets.”
The Maryland higher education employee went through the tickets one by one until he came to the Powerball ticket he had just purchased. To his astonishment, his quick-pick numbers matched those in the Dec. 16 drawing.
“I couldn’t believe I had the first four numbers and the Powerball,” he said. “I was startled when I looked up how much I won and it was $50,000.”
The father and grandfather had never won that much before and did not know what to do next. So, he went to the Lottery’s website to see how to claim his wonderful gift. He then called his wife in Ohio with the great news.
“She works weird hours, so I woke her up,” he recalled with a smile. “She said, ‘You better have a good reason to be calling me!’ ” When he shared the news and confirmed the numbers with her over the phone, she realized he did indeed have a great reason to call.
The big winner and his wife recently celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. The lucky Powerball player plans to use some of the prize for another trip and share some of his good fortune with his children and grandchildren for Christmas.