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A Florida man who had been living in Baltimore for less than 48 hours struck gold with a $50,000 Big Money lottery win—before even learning how to play the game.
The Maryland newcomer didn’t waste time testing his luck—and it paid off in a very big way.
According to the Maryland Lottery, a man who recently moved from Florida to Baltimore was visiting Towson Town Center when he saw a shop selling scratch-offs.
With no real plan—and no idea how the game worked—he grabbed a $5 Big Money ticket.
“I didn’t think it was real. I didn’t think it was real until I came here,” the stunned winner said after cashing in his ticket at Lottery headquarters on Tuesday, April 8.
Turns out, that ticket wasn’t just for fun.
The former Florida man, who had only lived in Maryland for two days, scratched the ticket and scanned it—thinking the "$50,000" message was just a top prize promotion.
It was not.
“The clerk scanned it and lost her mind when she saw it was a $50,000 winner,” he said.
The winner said he had started playing scratch-offs at 18 while still living in the Sunshine State but wasn’t familiar with Maryland’s Lottery setup.
After hitting the top prize, the lucky restaurant worker said he plans to safely stash the money in the bank—and maybe take a swing at a few more games in the future, when he’s not golfing.
The winning ticket was sold at Daily Deals, on the first floor of Towson Town Center in Baltimore County. The store earns a $500 bonus for the big sale.
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