A father in Maryland who was "playing chauffeur" all day was on his way to pick up his wife when he stopped for gas — and three lottery tickets. And after a lucky ticket that won him $10, the construction worker decided to try his luck one more time — and it paid off spectacularly.
"I saw the 'X' symbol and thought maybe I won $100," said Pastor Machado Benitez, according to the Maryland Lottery via Miami Herald. "But, when I saw that $10,000, I thought 'Wow, this is big.'"
But his grand prize turned out to be even bigger than $10,000 — as in 10-times bigger. Benitez raced over to his wife to show her the winning $100,000 ticket, who later said, "I was shocked."
The prize is enough to put down on a new house, which the couple intends to do.
From Maryland Lottery:
A College Park player is $100,000 richer after making a pit stop to get gas on the way to pick up his wife from work. Pastor Machado Benitez won a top prize playing the 50X The Cash scratch-off last weekend.
The lucky player stopped at Wawa #8521 in Adelphi and, while there, decided to play some scratch-off games. He decided on the $10 50X The Cash game.
"The first and second tickets were not winners, but the third one was $10," said Pastor. He thought for a moment about what to do with the prize and decided to cash in his winning scratch-off and buy one more game. He scratched it off in the store. …\
The father of two plans to use the prize toward a new home for his family.
Although different, this story reminds me of the Michigan man who forgot he bought a lottery ticket, so he bought another — and both turned out to be huge winners. Some people have all the luck — and when it comes to lottery tickets, it ain't me!
