A Silver Spring retiree thought he had come up just short when checking his Pick 5 tickets early Tuesday morning (Feb. 24). Instead, he was moments away from discovering he was $100,000 richer.
The winner, who chose to remain anonymous, purchased several dozen tickets at Wheaton Winery in Silver Spring on the previous day, Feb. 23. Later that evening, he went about his usual routine before deciding in the early morning hours of Feb. 24 to check his numbers using the Lottery app.
After scanning most of his tickets, he assumed he hadn’t won.
“Oh, darn it,” he recalled thinking. “I was almost this close.”
Noticing that one ticket was just a digit away from matching, he decided to check the remaining tickets more carefully. That’s when he realized two of his tickets were each worth $50,000.
“It felt like electricity going to my brain,” he said after claiming his prize Feb. 26 at Lottery headquarters in Baltimore.
The retired accountant already had plans to move out of state to be closer to family and will use the winnings to further support his retirement.
Wheaton Winery, at 2211-B University Boulevard, receives bonuses totaling $1,000 for selling the two top-prize-winning Pick 5 tickets.
