He was not about to let that ticket go

By Kate Northrop

MANCHESTER, Md. — A jammed lottery vending machine wasn't about to stop one Maryland man from getting his ticket, which ended up being a winner for a $1 million prize.

A Maryland lottery player was insistent he get his ticket after making a purchase at a vending machine and witnessing it freeze up.

The anonymous man made a stop at the Sheetz convenience store on Main Street in Manchester, a retailer he frequently visits to buy his lottery tickets. He walked up to the vending machine and purchased a $20 "100X the Cash" scratch-off ticket.

But to his dismay, the machine jammed. He found an employee to help him retrieve it, though, and that's when he discovered he had purchased the very last ticket of its kind in the machine.

The player scanned the ticket's barcode and up popped a message telling him to "Go to Lottery." He knew that meant he must have won something sizeable, so he scratched off the rest of the ticket to find out exactly how much.

The play area revealed a $10,000 prize with a corresponding "100X" symbol. Initially, he thought it meant that he had won a flat $10,000, but then he saw the multiplier sign and mentally crunched the numbers.

"The math in my head went right away," he told the Maryland Lottery. "It's a million dollars."

Even if the ticket in his hand was solid proof, he needed more. He scanned the ticket using the Lottery's mobile app, and then again using the retailer's scanner at the counter. They both confirmed it was the real deal.

The Carroll County resident recalled to Lottery officials how he returned home and eagerly gave the winning ticket to his wife. She wasn't very impressed since she didn't know the amount of the prize and handed it back to him.

He urged her to look more closely. She did, and then she proceeded to grab a calculator to figure out it had won a $1 million prize.

The winner visited Lottery headquarters in Baltimore on Aug. 12 to claim the prize, but when Lottery staff asked about his plans, he replied that he didn't have anything concrete yet. He had a few lingering ideas, including supporting his college-age grandchildren and completing some home improvements, but he'll hang onto most of it for now.

"We ain't counting our chickens until they hatch," he remarked. "Not until we cash it."

The winner has spent more than 50 years working as an iron worker but has no plans to slow down, the Lottery said, and this win gives him even more reason to keep life exciting.

"It keeps me active," he said.

For selling the winning ticket, the retailer will receive a $1,000 bonus from the Lottery.

As of now, there are two out of seven top prizes of $1 million remaining in the $20 "100X the Cash" scratch-off game, which launched in January. There is also one more second-tier prize of $50,000 left and two out of five third-tier prizes of $10,000 remaining.

The overall odds of winning any prize in the game are 1 in 3.15.