Lottery player buys ticket while getting vitamins for his wife. Then came ‘wow moment’

A man was visited by lottery luck while out running an errand for his wife, Maryland officials said.

The man decided to make a “pit stop” in Bowie while buying vitamins for his wife, according to a July 16 news release by the Maryland Lottery.

He had no idea one of the $1 straight Pick 5 Quick Pick tickets was carrying a $50,000 prize, officials said.

The dad of four went home and checked the numbers before a family dinner, officials said.

“I checked the website for the winning numbers and saw that they looked awfully familiar,” the financial analyst told officials. “I immediately went through my tickets and sure enough, I had a match.”

The man, who plays the game often “knew exactly how much he had won,” lottery officials said.

“I looked at my phone, then back at my ticket, then back at my phone, then back at my ticket,” he said. “It was definitely a wow moment.”

The man told his wife of the win but kept it a secret from their kids during dinner, officials said.

The man plans to pay bills and help his daughter buy a car with the money, officials said.

Bowie is about a 30-mile drive southwest of Baltimore.

This story was originally published July 16, 2024 at 4:22 PM with the headline "Lottery player buys ticket while getting vitamins for his wife. Then came ‘wow moment’."