Everyone was watching the Powerball jackpot as it grew to $1.787 billion before it was won on tickets in Missouri and Texas. A lottery fan in Halethorpe made sure he purchased tickets the day before the Sept. 6 drawing. Good thing he did because, while he didn’t hit the jackpot, he was one of five Marylanders who a $50,000 third-tier prize in that drawing.
The Baltimore County man enjoys playing all of the Lottery games, but recently has been winning on Racetrax by choosing his own numbers. On Sept. 5, he was at the 7-Eleven at 6510 Washington Boulevard in Elkridge, preparing to play the virtual horse racing game, when his wife urged him to use his special numbers to play Powerball. She was keen to play since the jackpot was so high. He did and when he checked his ticket on Sept. 8, he realized he won $50,000.
“I had just worked a lot of hours and was really tired,” he said, adding, “But, I had a feeling, so I checked my ticket on the Lottery app and there was all this confetti and a congratulations message.”
Still a bit groggy, he wasn’t sure what he was seeing, so he asked his wife to take a look.
“I counted all those zeroes and told him he won $50,000,” said the winner’s wife when she accompanied him to Lottery headquarters in Baltimore Sept. 10 to claim the prize. “It was amazing.”
The Halethorpe player who works in the entertainment industry placed his winning ticket in a safe place until he could claim on Sept. 10. He said he plans to invest and take a trip to Ocean City.
Although there was no jackpot win in Maryland, the Sept. 8 drawing did produce four additional $50,000 wins from across the state.
