Maryland player almost threw out $50,000 winning lottery ticket

Sep 18, 2021, 3:15 pm (12 comments)

Maryland Lottery

It pays to double check your tickets

By Kate Northrop

WALDORF, Md. — It's a good idea to double-check lottery tickets before tossing them. Nearly throwing out a winning lottery ticket almost cost a Maryland man a $50,000 prize.

A landscaper just so happened to come into a lot of green when he hit a $50,000 prize with a Fast Play Lucky Numbers lottery ticket, but he did not realize it at first. When the anonymous player mistook it for a loser, the winning ticket just barely escaped being thrown in the trash.

The 50-year-old was on his way home from work when he stopped at the US Fuel gas station on Crain Highway in Waldorf to play the lottery.

He had recently tried out a game from the Maryland Lottery's new Fast Play family of games and wanted to try his luck again. This time, he put down $10 on the Lucky Numbers progressive jackpot game and gave it a quick once-over after receiving the ticket. At first glance, it didn't appear to be a winner, and so he instinctively considered tossing the slip in the trash.

Before he did, however, he noticed a bonus game at the bottom of the ticket that offered a second chance to win a prize.

"I almost balled it up and threw it out, but before I did, I scanned the ticket with the Lottery's app while sitting in my car," the Waldorf resident told the Lottery.

 The lucky player was met with a congratulatory message accompanied with a note that he had won a $50,000 prize.

The Charles County man was more than relieved that he didn't throw out that ticket. He immediately dialed up his family to tell them what had happened.

"I was shaking when I told them," he recalled.

That $50,000 decision will go a long way. The prize will help cover the relocation expenses that he'll incur when he moves into a new apartment or house.

The Maryland Lottery launched their lineup of Fast Play instant games last year, which included the $10 Lucky Numbers game. Lucky Numbers offers a top prize that starts at a base amount and increases with the sale of each ticket until a top-prize winning ticket is sold. The progressive top prize then resets to the base amount and starts increasing again. Players can win other prize amounts ranging from $10 to $50,000 in the Lucky Numbers Fast Play game.

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

Raven62's avatarRaven62

Party Congrats to the Winner! Party

Mata Garbo

Scanning your ticket inside the store or with your own phone app is almost mandatory these days. Especially the 10/20 and 30 dollar tickets and any tickets you are buying for the first time where you may not realize they contain bonus areas. My guess is there are hundreds of  winning tickets thrown away  every year across the country because people buy them, scratch them and toss them without taking a few seconds to scan them. Congratulations to the lucky gentleman.

ApproveYes Nod

Tony Numbers's avatarTony Numbers

Quote: Originally posted by Mata Garbo on Sep 18, 2021

Scanning your ticket inside the store or with your own phone app is almost mandatory these days. Especially the 10/20 and 30 dollar tickets and any tickets you are buying for the first time where you may not realize they contain bonus areas. My guess is there are hundreds of  winning tickets thrown away  every year across the country because people buy them, scratch them and toss them without taking a few seconds to scan them. Congratulations to the lucky gentleman.

ApproveYes Nod

I start my new job tomorrow. Going thru garbage cans looking for lottery tickets. I hear the pay is pretty good!.

Bleudog101

Hey LP members, does your state offer Fast Play?   

 

We have it here, play once in a while.

 

Just think if all participating states were to hook up together.   Naw, never mind...then the odds would get much worse!

 

Glad he didn't throw it out...dumpster divers like me might have found it.

Tony Numbers's avatarTony Numbers

Quote: Originally posted by Bleudog101 on Sep 18, 2021

Hey LP members, does your state offer Fast Play?   

 

We have it here, play once in a while.

 

Just think if all participating states were to hook up together.   Naw, never mind...then the odds would get much worse!

 

Glad he didn't throw it out...dumpster divers like me might have found it.

Hey bleudog did Kentucky ever launch the lottery connected to the horse racing results???

noise-gate

* Throwing out a $50,000 ticket is regrettable. Last year a $26 million jackpot ticket in LA went unclaimed- that was unforgivable.

Tony Numbers's avatarTony Numbers

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on Sep 18, 2021

* Throwing out a $50,000 ticket is regrettable. Last year a $26 million jackpot ticket in LA went unclaimed- that was unforgivable.

Why do people play jackpot lottery if they are careless with the tickets?? Those pieces of paper potentially are worth millions and should be treated as such. They fold the ticket put it in a wallet, or. leave it in the car,. Or leave it in the pants and in the washing machine.And yet these are the people who win!!

noise-gate

Quote: Originally posted by Tony Numbers on Sep 18, 2021

Why do people play jackpot lottery if they are careless with the tickets?? Those pieces of paper potentially are worth millions and should be treated as such. They fold the ticket put it in a wallet, or. leave it in the car,. Or leave it in the pants and in the washing machine.And yet these are the people who win!!

* Yep, some people are incapable of thinking clearly.*

Bleudog101

Quote: Originally posted by Tony Numbers on Sep 18, 2021

Hey bleudog did Kentucky ever launch the lottery connected to the horse racing results???

No, but the 'fake casinos' as I call them are by law based on old horse races.  I can think of 3 places, but think there are four.   There is a button the slot machine that says past race results but have yet to see anyone depress it.  Our Governor would love to have real casinos, but since he's a Dem and Repukes run the show it won't happen.   Hasn't even been addressed.   The horse racing folks would love it to be since they own these places.   Certainly they're raking in money from them I would assume.

 

You can also before hitting Play pick the horses that you think will win, way too complicated for me so hit the play button is as far as all the folks I watch playing goes.

MzDuffleBaglady's avatarMzDuffleBaglady

Quote: Originally posted by Mata Garbo on Sep 18, 2021

Scanning your ticket inside the store or with your own phone app is almost mandatory these days. Especially the 10/20 and 30 dollar tickets and any tickets you are buying for the first time where you may not realize they contain bonus areas. My guess is there are hundreds of  winning tickets thrown away  every year across the country because people buy them, scratch them and toss them without taking a few seconds to scan them. Congratulations to the lucky gentleman.

ApproveYes Nod

Some of these winning stories!

Just do not .

 

.

 

Why didn't he just scan the ticket in the first place?

Congratulations, and happy spending though!

ekem6078's avatarekem6078

Quote: Originally posted by Tony Numbers on Sep 18, 2021

I start my new job tomorrow. Going thru garbage cans looking for lottery tickets. I hear the pay is pretty good!.

So is contracting Covid 19.😷  Just scan your tickets people, esp if you don't have time to scratch em off.

Speler

I wonder how many have burned their winning tickets in their ashtray.

End of comments
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