José Garcia of Silver Spring (third from left) celebrates his $100,000 Your Fortune scratch-off win with his friend Luis Ventura, left, and family members Erasimo Garcia and Melsor Garcia. |
Jose Garcia wins $100,000 playing the Your Fortune scratch-off
A construction worker’s day off led to a lucky $100,000 top-prize win on the Maryland Lottery’s Your Fortune scratch-off game. José Garcia of Silver Spring built his fortune by playing scratch-offs at his local 7-Eleven.
José was with friends when he remembered a $15 winning scratch-off he needed to cash. The 20-year-old did so and invested his winnings into three $5 instant tickets. Luck was on his side! One of the scratch-offs yielded a $25 win. José decided to play a little more and this time bought a $5 scratch-off and two $10 Your Fortune games. He never expected to win big.
“We like to scratch only the top of the tickets and then scan them,” José said. “I knew I won because I saw the coin symbol, but I didn’t know how much and the message on the scanner said to cash at Lottery.” Excited, he finished scratching off the ticket outside and revealed the $100,000 prize!
Word of his win spread fast, he said, and everyone was happy including his dubious dad. “I told him and even after seeing the ticket, he didn’t believe me at first,” José said, laughing.
The Montgomery County man had to work on Friday and couldn’t claim the prize until Monday. Unlike most winners, José said he had a restful weekend dreaming of his good fortune. He plans to keep working construction and will save his winnings.
The lucky 7-Eleven #23666 is also a winner. The Montgomery County retailer located at 9254 New Hampshire Avenue in Silver Spring will receive a $1,000 bonus from the Lottery for selling a top-prize ticket in the Your Fortune game. There are plenty of prizes in the game for players to find including six more $100,000 top prizes, 11 $10,000 prizes and thousands of others ranging from $10 to $1,000.