Winner uses scammers to his advantage
By Kate Northrop
SALISBURY, Md. — A Maryland man bombarded with scam text messages turned the unwanted solicitations into $50,000 after using the phone numbers to win a Pick 5 prize in the lottery.
One Maryland resident received so many text messages asking for money that he decided to use the solicitor's phone number to play the lottery, winning a $50,000 Pick 5 prize.
An anonymous lottery winner dubbed "Persistent Player" is as persistent as a scammer fishing for handouts. He plays the lottery every day, buying multiple sets of numbers for Pick 5 daily.
His numbers are often inspired by constants in his everyday life, such as license plates and birthdays. However, he recently found a new source of inspiration that paid off on July 20.
It turned out that "Persistent Player" had been receiving unwanted text messages from a solicitor asking for money. He had received so many texts from the same number that the digits got stuck in his head, he told the Maryland Lottery. He then added them to his number rotation.
"They kept calling and texting me, and I said, 'I am going to use that scammer to my advantage,'" the winner said to Lottery officials with a grin.
While at the Walmart on North Salisbury Boulevard in Salisbury, he placed a $1 straight bet for the Pick 5 July 20 evening drawing using the numbers 3-4-2-6-8. Those numbers won him the game's $50,000 top prize.
The winner, who is a business owner, said he plans on using the prize to pay bills and will put the leftover funds in the bank. "Persistent Player" also had some advice for fellow lottery players: play within your means and don't change your numbers.
For selling the winning ticket, the retailer receives a $500 bonus from the Lottery.
The odds of winning the top prize in Pick 5 by matching all five winning numbers in exact order are 1 in 100,000. Drawings take place twice a day at 12:28 pm and 7:56 pm EST.
All winning numbers, prizes, and odds are published on Lottery Post's Maryland Lottery Results page right after each drawing.
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Good for him! I do the same thing with the confirmation #s when I pay bills. Only time I cashed in was when I found a 30+ year-old department store credit card receipt from the days when those card numbers only had 8 digits. Fashioned the numbers into a $100 Cash for Life winner.
Took a negative and turned it into a positive.
Congrats!
Way to go bruther. That's sticking it to the man. LMAO
Yea, I hit on pick 4 (boxed) a couple years ago playing the amount of gas I put in my tank
This is a MUCH bigger hit - congrats!