A member of a Capitol Heights Lottery retailer’s stay-and-play club has a winning story to share with his friends. The retired law enforcement officer nabbed a $30,000 Keno prize by playing all 5s instead of all 7s on his 8-spot ticket.
The Prince George’s County resident normally plays Pick 3 and Pick 4 with his friends at Best One Food Market. That October morning, he decided to try his luck with Keno and placed a wager using numbers ending in 7. Although he didn’t have much luck, the Capitol Heights man decided to play Keno again. This time, he made an 8-spot wager, switched his numbers to those ending in 5 and added the Bonus feature for 10 drawings.
“Then, I went to the barbershop to get my hair cut, but it was closed,” the lucky player said.
He returned to the Lottery retailer, which was quiet and had no customers for a change, and scanned his Keno ticket once, and then again on another ticket checker because he couldn’t believe his eyes. “I stuck the ticket in and I said, ‘This can’t be right. There are too many zeros!’” He asked the clerk to check his ticket, too, saying, “It said I won $30,000?” The clerk confirmed his big win and sent him to Lottery headquarters in Baltimore to claim his prize. The Bonus option on his ticket had tripled his prize to $30,000!
The 71-year-old shared his fantastic news with his wife, who accompanied him to the Lottery Winner’s Circle. The happy player plans to pay off bills with the prize and possibly take a trip.
His retailer can also share in the fun of the big win. For selling a winning Keno ticket of $10,000 or more, Best One Food Market located at 5908 Seat Pleasant Drive in Capitol Heights earns a bonus of $300 from the Lottery. The bonus is equal to 1 percent of the prize.