Washington, D.C. man bets same number on two tickets to win twice
Time was almost up for the Washington, D.C. Lottery player to claim the $50,000 Pick 5 prizes he won on two tickets bought last fall.
Back on Oct. 3, the lucky man had pulled into the Kentland Shell in Hyattsville to gas up his vehicle. He also wanted something sweet, so the player left his car running and ran inside to buy candy. He used to be an avid Lottery player, but now doesn’t play that often. On the day he found his fortune, the winner noticed a line of people playing Lottery games and decided to get some tickets.
“I put in for the jackpot games and then checked on my car because it was running,” said the winner. “That’s when I noticed a license tag with the numbers, 7837, so I added a 7 in the middle and went back to play Pick 5 with those numbers.”
The player bought two $1 straight bet Pick 5 tickets for the drawing that evening along with some Pick 5 Box tickets and jackpot games. It was a week later when he checked them all for a win.
“I was looking at the website thinking those numbers looked familiar,” he said. “I went and grabbed my tickets to check and they were matching, but I had to be sure.”
The player decided to try to cash his winning Pick 5 Box tickets and, if they were legitimate, then he would know the Pick 5 straight bet tickets were also winners. He was in luck, because the Box tickets were winners. That meant his two straight bet tickets won $50,000 each for a combined prize of $100,000.
When claiming the windfall at Lottery headquarters in Baltimore, the happy winner explained that he waited to claim the prize because he wanted to look into the best way to invest his funds. He also shared that he may want to use some of the prize to open a small business.
The Kentland Shell, where he bought the tickets, is located at 7777 Landover Road in Hyattsville. The Prince George’s County store receives a combined Lottery bonus of $1,000 for selling two $50,000-winning Pick 5 tickets.
