Father of two finds $50,000 scratch-off prize at Cumberland retailer
A lot of Lottery players would like to have the same kind of luck that brought a father of two to Baltimore on March 18.
His family joined the Mineral County, W.Va., resident as he claimed a $50,000 top prize on the Neon x10 scratch-off ticket. The win was shocking to all of them, as it was just the second Lottery ticket the 49-year-old has ever purchased.
The lucky winner, who works in retail, said there were two Neon x10 instant tickets left when he visited the Circle K store at 15617 McMullen Highway in Cumberland. He bought one of them and then watched as his girlfriend scratched it off in the store parking lot. They saw a “10x” symbol with a prize of $5,000. That meant the prize was multiplied to $50,000, right?
“We checked it and re-checked and we weren’t sure, so I went back in the store and the cashier scanned it and said, ‘You can’t cash it here, it’s too big,’ ” the winner recalled. “I just had a numb feeling. My heart was pumping. I was excited. I can’t believe it’s real.”
What’s even more difficult to believe is that it’s only the second time he’s purchased a Lottery ticket.
“Second one in my whole life,” he said. “The other one was years ago, and I didn’t win anything.”
The father of two hid the ticket in “a secret place” for nearly a week until he was able to bring it to Lottery headquarters in Baltimore to claim the prize. He said he plans to use the money to pay bills and invest in home renovations.
The retailer is a winner as well. For selling the top-prize ticket, the Circle K store will receive a $500 bonus from the Maryland Lottery – equal to 1 percent of the prize value.
The Neon x10 ticket launched last May, and now only one of its $50,000 top prizes is still waiting to be found at Lottery retailers. The scratch-off also still has three $5,000 prizes and thousands of other prizes ranging from $5 to $1,000.