Whenever the Maryland man buys lottery tickets, he doesn’t check them immediately.
Instead, he let the expectation grow throughout the day, waiting until you put your child to bed to check them, Maryland Lottery officials said in a May 23 news release.
When he was younger, he was “a casino guy who liked to travel to Las Vegas,” lottery officials said.
But now, with a young child and a baby on the way, he told lottery officials that he plays the lottery as a way to “relax at the end of the day.”
“Sometimes he wins a few dollars, sometimes nothing,” lottery officials said. “But on May 18 things were different.”
On his way to work, lottery officials said the Gaithersburg man purchased four $5 Lightning Cash tickets at a Liberty gas station in Damascus.
To win, players need to reveal at least 15 lightning bolts, officials said.
Checking his tickets after his son was fast asleep, the man discovered his first ticket “had 15 screws for a $10 win.”
Although the next two tickets were not winners, lottery officials said the last ticket “appeared to have more lightning bolts than any of the previous tickets.”
Turns out there were 22 bolts, earning him the game’s top prize of $50,000.
The man asked his mother-in-law to check his ticket, confirming that he had won, authorities said.
Then the man told lottery officials that he collected three of his tickets and asked his wife to check them.
Upon checking out the first two, lottery officials said she began to lose interest.
“But then she counted the screws on the third one and said, ‘Oh my God,’” according to lottery officials.
Although the man is a regular player, he told lottery officials that this was his “first big win.”
The man told lottery officials he plans to spend the prize money to pay off his student loans as well as “create educational funds for his children.”
Damascus is about a 40-mile drive west of Baltimore.
Many people can play or gamble without harm. However, for some, gambling is an addiction that can ruin lives and families.
If you or a loved one shows signs of gambling addiction, you can seek help by calling the National Gambling Hotline at 1-800-522-4700 or visiting the National Council on Problem Gaming website.
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