‘Superfecta Superstar’ Captures Largest-Ever Racetrax Prize

Washington, D.C., resident wins $361,842 on Superfecta bet

For more than a month, the Wawa at 163 Crain Highway in Upper Marlboro has displayed a sign to let customers know that the store sold the Maryland Lottery’s largest-ever Racetrax winning ticket on Dec. 10. Weeks passed with no winner stepping forward.

Finally, on Jan. 29, a property manager from Washington, D.C., arrived at Maryland Lottery headquarters with the historic ticket worth $361,842, courtesy of his 12-8-9-11 Superfecta bet. Choosing to remain anonymous, the winner was dubbed by Lottery officials as the “Superfecta Superstar.”

The 31-year-old winner, whose wife accompanied him to claim the prize, said he chose all of the numbers for a reason. The number 12 was the month he bought the ticket; 8 represents August, the eighth month of the year when the couple’s first baby is due; 9 corresponds to 2009, the year he and his wife were married; and 11 has always been his lucky number. He played those numbers on a 10-draw Superfecta ticket, betting on that exact order of finish in the computer-animated horse racing game.

“The thing I’d say to people is to play when you have hunches,” said the “Superfecta Superstar.” “I had a hunch about those numbers. A couple weeks ago, I had another hunch and I wrote down some numbers on a Post-It (note), and when I went to play them I looked and found that they had hit about 40 minutes earlier. If I had played them, I’d have won $111,000. So, play when you have a hunch.”

After purchasing his $10 ticket on Dec. 10, he left the Prince George’s County store without watching the races. He didn’t get a chance to check his ticket until the next morning. His 12-8-9-11 Superfecta hit on the last of the 10 races that he played.

The avid player quickly referred to the Superfecta payout chart online at mdlottery.com – a 217-page document that lists the prizes for every Superfecta combination.

“I was scrolling down and scrolling down,” he said. Finally, he found the value of his prize on page 211. “When I finally got down there I said, ‘No way!’ ” he recalled, adding that he woke up his wife to tell her the amazing news.

“I was shocked,” she said.

While the “Superfecta Superstar” was excited to win such a large prize, it took him weeks to claim it because he’s started a new job and didn’t have any days off. He hid the lucky ticket in a cufflinks box until he could visit Lottery headquarters in Baltimore.

This is the loyal Racetrax player’s second visit to the Winner’s Lounge. He won a $34,000 prize on the game a few years ago.

The lucky man said he and his wife don’t have any special plans for the money.

“I’m going to pay some bills – pay all the bills, and we have a baby on the way,” he said. “It’s a blessing. I’m really excited. It’s going to be a good year.”

For selling the winning ticket, the Wawa store in Upper Marlboro will receive a bonus of $3,618.42 from the Lottery – equal to 1 percent of the prize value.