Lottery player almost lost out on big win — but double checked ticket headed for trash

A Maryland man is thanking his lucky stars after double checking a lottery ticket he thought was a loser.

The man, a 22-year-old salesman from Temple Hills, told lottery officials that he and his wife went to a local Wawa convenience store to buy gas, and with the extra money they had on them, they bought $30 worth of lottery tickets.

“I had a few bucks in my pocket and I decided to play,” he told Maryland lottery officials in a March 6 release.

He and his wife went home to scratch off the tickets, he said. The couple made a pile of winning tickets and another pile of non-winners, according to the lottery.

While he sorted the tickets, he told officials that he saw one ticket, a $5 Gold X20 scratch-off, sitting by itself. The ticket was already scratched off but it wasn’t in either pile. He thought the ticket hadn’t won anything but decided to take another look at it before throwing it in the trash.

“We were going to throw the ticket away,” he told officials. “We are lucky we didn’t!”

The abandoned ticket was worth $50,000.

After the win, four $50,000 top prizes remain in the Gold X20 game.

The winner said he and his wife would use the money to buy a new house.

“We were both deciding if we should try to get a house in this tough market. We will get one now,” he told officials.

Temple Hills is just east of Washington, D.C.

If you or a loved one shows signs of gambling addiction, you can seek help by calling the national gambling hotline at 1-800-522-4700 or visiting the National Council on Problem Gambling website.

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