Lexington Park, MD – March 2, 2020 – Rooting around in his car console yielded the perfect path to a $50,000 scratch-off win for a loyal player from Lexington Park.
“I was digging in the console for something,” said John Randolph, who had stopped for gas at Pegg Road Shell near his house. The carpenter found a forgotten but winning Lottery scratch-off and took it into the gas station with him. Discovering it was worth $25, the grandfather of nine decided to re-invest his winnings in more games. He looked over the retailer’s scratch-off inventory and selected five of the $5 DEAL OR NO DEAL™ instant tickets. The U.S. Navy veteran then headed back to his vehicle to play his scratch-offs.
“The first one was THE one,” he said, recalling his $50,000 top-prize win. “I was sitting there looking at it and I was, like, ‘Am I reading the ticket right?’ I know the guy who runs the station so I went in.” A scan of the scratch-off had the gas station employee proclaiming, “Wow, you won!”
The stunned 59-year-old left and tried without success to share the news with his significant other, Katharine. She was tied up at medical appointments. “I didn’t scratch the other ones for a while,” he said. When he finally did, John revealed a win for $10 on one game and $10 on another.
The father of two adult children decided to go home and wait for Katharine. However, he soon realized that his exciting news couldn’t wait. John wound up phoning her again and telling her all about the windfall over the phone.
The St. Mary’s County pair have a trip to Aruba already planned this winter and will use the prize to upgrade their vacation fun. John also plans to pay off bills.
His Lottery retailer also gets a deal out of the big win. For selling a top-prize-winning scratch-off, Pegg Road Shell at 22141 Three Notch Road in Lexington Park earns a $500 bonus from the Lottery. The bonus is equal to 1 percent of the prize.
The DEAL OR NO DEAL game still has three unclaimed top prizes and thousands of others. The game went on sale in August 2019.