A Maryland man won a $100,000 lottery prize after making a spur-of-the-moment stop on his way home from work.
The winner, who chose to remain anonymous, said he was driving home from his job as a truck driver when he debated whether to buy a ticket while waiting at a traffic light. When the light turned green, he decided to turn into a 7-Eleven in Laurel and purchased a scratch-off for a new game called “50X the Cash,” according to the Maryland Lottery.
After buying the ticket, he returned to his car and scratched it right away. At first, he said, he wasn’t sure what he was seeing.
“I never saw a multiplier before,” he told lottery officials. “I thought maybe I’d won $500.”
Then he noticed the full amount. “Then I saw four zeros!” he said. “Under the 10X notation was $10,000, making the total prize $100,000.”
He told officials the only person he informed about the win was his wife. The couple plans to take care of some household needs and also set aside money for a vacation.
“We’re going to take a vacation somewhere nice,” he said. “Somewhere it’s not snowing!”
The 7-Eleven where the ticket was sold will receive a $1,000 bonus, the Maryland Lottery said.
The winner is the second person to claim one of the nine $100,000 top prizes available in the 50X the Cash game. As of Feb. 9, there were also nine $50,000 prizes remaining, along with tens of thousands of prizes ranging from $10 to $10,000, according to the Maryland Lottery.
The lottery supports Maryland’s General Fund, including funding dedicated to school construction in Baltimore City and other areas.
