Advice from a friend’s uncle led a Maryland man to win $100,000 from a scratch-off lottery ticket. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
Feb. 28 (UPI) — A Maryland man took some advice from a friend’s uncle and ended up winning a $100,000 lottery prize.
The Baltimore man told Maryland Lottery officials he was at Omega Grocery & Market in Baltimore with a group of friends when a friend’s uncle encouraged him to buy a scratch-off ticket.
The man said he initially replied that he doesn’t play lottery games.
“He told me to play anyway,” the player said. “I didn’t even know how to play it.”
The man ended up selecting a $100,000 Crossword scratch-off ticket.
The player said he decided to simply scan the ticket right away instead of going through the process of revealing and playing letters, but the scanner came up with an error message.
He ended up scratching the ticket and showing it to his friend and the friend’s uncle to see if he had won anything.
“They said, ‘You have 10 words,'” the winner recalled, “and when I looked at the game, it said 10 words is $100,000!”
The man took his ticket to another store and confirmed his $100,000 prize using a working scanner.
“I had to step outside for a minute,” he said. “I don’t normally freak out, but I did this time.”
The winner said his prize money will go into savings for the time being.