“Ravens Fan” and his girlfriend flew into Lottery headquarters with a $50,000 winning Ravens scratch-off. |
Claims big prize on ticket purchased at Baltimore grocery store
Although the Baltimore Ravens lost in overtime to the Chicago Bears on Sunday, one diehard “Ravens Fan” did enjoy a victorious Monday morning.
The Baltimore City resident happily claimed a $50,000 prize on Monday that he won playing a Maryland Lottery Ravens scratch-off. The father of three had almost thrown the big winner away and didn’t believe he won until he arrived at Lottery headquarters and had his win officially confirmed.
“Ravens Fan,” as he dubbed himself, bought his lucky scratch-off by accident, too. While shopping at Weis Markets #85 in Baltimore, “Ravens Fan” put money in the Lottery vending machine to buy two Powerball tickets and one Ravens scratch-off. The Lottery retailer located at 7848 Wise Avenue is one of his favorites. Realizing too late that the machine was not able to give change, “Ravens Fan” decided to use the remaining $5 to grab another Ravens scratch-off before leaving the store and heading home.
At first, the 35-year-old thought both of his Ravens scratch-offs were non-winners.
“I was about to throw it in the trash and I said, ‘Wait, let me look at this again.’” he said. After scrutinizing the scratch-off, the astonished man looked over at his significant other and said, “Baby, we won!”
She didn’t believe him – at first. “I said, ‘You’re playing a trick on me,’” she recalled with a smile.
Even though they weren’t certain if the instant ticket was really worth $50,000, they didn’t want to take any chance of the scratch-off getting lost or stolen. “Ravens Fan” hid the instant ticket in the basement behind his high school diploma. On Monday, he took a day off from his job as a Coca Cola merchandiser to visit Lottery headquarters with his girlfriend.
They are still unsure how they will spend the prize but have lots of ideas! Those thoughts include buying a new vehicle, making a down payment on a house and spending some of the prize on a birthday party for one of their sons.
There are still lots of prizes remaining on the $5 Ravens scratch-off, including three $100,000 top prizes and four $50,000 prizes. And, if your $2 or $5 Ravens scratch-offs are non-winners, you can still win by entering them into the Ravens second-chance contest through My Lottery Rewards. Win season tickets for 20 years, cash, an away trip with the team and lots more. Visit ravens.mdlottery.com for details.