When jackpots get in the range of a billion dollars, a player in Upper Marlboro is one of the many people whose attention is drawn. He made certain to get tickets with all the trimmings and ended up winning a $500,000 Powerball Double Play prize three days before Christmas.
“I was looking at that jackpot and had a feeling someone was going to have a really good Christmas,” he said Dec. 29 when he claimed his prize at Lottery headquarters in Baltimore.
The day before the Dec. 22 drawing, the winner and his family were at a relative’s house celebrating when, on the way home, he realized how big the jackpot had grown ($1.6 billion at that particular moment). They made a quick stop at the Wawa convenience store at 163 Crain Highway South East in Upper Marlboro and he got five quick pick combinations, including both the Power Play and Double Play options, for a total ticket cost of $20.
Often casual players like the Upper Marlboro winner are not up to speed on the Power Play option, which increases the amount of non-jackpot prizes by a randomly selected multiplier of at least 2 and as much as 10, or the Double Play option, which makes the ticket eligible for a second drawing with a set top prize of $10 million.
“I figure, if you’re going to play, play!” he said.
In this case, it was that Double Play option that made the difference between having a non-winning ticket and one worth $500,000. While the main drawing was a bust for him, the Double Play drawing, about a half hour later, gave him a second-tier half million-dollar prize.
The winner says he and his family recently moved into a new house and they have some projects that they’d like to address.
“But first things first; 10 percent goes to the church. You’ve got to tithe,” he said, adding that his church recently experienced some plumbing issues and is in need of a financial boost.
Going forward, the winner plans to continue watching for those big jackpots before getting his tickets.
For selling the $500,000 Double Play second-tier winning ticket, Wawa will receive a $1,000 bonus.
