A man from Pennsylvania turned a pit stop in Maryland into quite the payoff — he won more than $160,000 in the lottery.
"I had Memorial Day on my mind as I was driving through Laurel," the man, a financial planner from Philadelphia, told the Maryland Lottery in a May 31 news article posted on their website.
Laurel is located between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.
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On that day, May 23, the man remembered that he had been invited to a friend's party that weekend, and thought it would be polite to bring beverages.
"At that moment, I saw the liquor store," he told the Maryland Lottery.
A man who stopped at a liquor store in Maryland left with more than just booze for a party – he won $162,411 in the lottery. (iStock / iStock)
The man said he often visits Maryland, and when he's there, he frequently buys lottery tickets.
After stopping at the liquor store in Laurel, he bought a "FAST PLAY" ticket. A "FAST PLAY" game is, "like scratch-offs, without the scratching," said the Maryland Lottery's website.
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"I’ve been having luck with FAST PLAY tickets down here (in Maryland) and Big Money Doubler had a pretty big jackpot the last time I checked your website," the man told the Maryland Lottery when he collected his winnings.
"Big Money Doubler," the game the man played, costs $5 per play, and has a progressive jackpot – meaning it gets bigger until someone wins.
The man bought a "FAST PLAY" game at the liquor store – he said he had previously had "good luck" with similar games. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Despite being a lottery enthusiast, the man did not think about checking his numbers until later that evening.
When he saw that he won, and how much he won — $162,411 — he could not believe it.
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"I was in total disbelief when I saw the prize amount. I called my girlfriend, my friends — nobody could believe it," he told the Maryland Lottery.
The man, not pictured, told the Maryland Lottery that he immediately called his girlfriend and his friends to share the news of his big win. (iStock / iStock)
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The liquor store where the man purchased the winning ticket received a $1,000 bonus, said the Maryland Lottery.
According to the Maryland Lottery, the Big Money Doubler game began selling tickets in January 2023, and the game will close after 10 more progressive jackpots are won.
The game's minimum jackpot is $40,000, they said.
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Smaller, non-jackpot prizes start at $10 and go to $5,000.
The man did not say what he intended to do with his jackpot, but given the circumstances of the ticket's purchase, perhaps he'd throw an epic party — or two — to celebrate.
