Hagerstown man claims top prize on Pay Me! scratch-off
A Western Maryland man who stopped to fill up his tank and get a cup of coffee now has his pockets full, too! The 26-year-old avid scratch-off player can thank cupid for delivering his $50,000 Pay Me! scratch-off win on Valentine’s Day Eve.
The lucky Hagerstown resident was with a friend at Sheetz #163 in Hagerstown when cupid shot an arrow of Lottery luck at him. “I bought a bunch of the $5 Pay Me! scratch-offs and one $20 game,” he said. “I stayed in the store while my buddy scratched the tickets in the car.”
Moments later, the winner was startled when his friend returned to the store, shaking, with the scratch-off in his hand. He’d won the $50,000 top prize in the game! The happy winner looked at the instant ticket and could see right away that he’d won big. He scanned it anyway, just to confirm the prize. The two then left the store and headed home.
Nervous about the safety of his winning scratch-off, the auto mechanic locked it up in a safe. He already had an appointment on Valentine’s Day in Baltimore and decided to claim the prize on the same day. “It was really convenient to come today,” said the relatively calm man.
The father of a young son, the winner plans to use his prize to help family members. The Washington County man also plans to invest a portion of the winnings to launch an auto repair shop.
For selling the top-prize scratch-off in the game, Sheetz #163 located at 17550 Virginia Avenue also wins. The Lottery will give the retailer a $500 bonus – equal to 1 percent of the prize. There are plenty of unclaimed winning tickets remaining in the game, which went on sale Nov. 28. Look for four more $50,000 top prizes, eight $5,000 prizes and thousands of others ranging from $5 to $1,000.