Powerball player wins $1 million and jokes of winning again. Then he has big surprise
A lucky lottery player scored $1 million from Powerball. He joked about winning again — and did.
He ended up with $2 million.
The man from Anne Arundel County said he only buys Powerball tickets when the jackpot is over $1 billion, the Maryland Lottery said in an April 4 news release.
At the time of the April 1 drawing, the Powerball jackpot was at $1.03 billion, McClatchy News reported. So he snagged some lottery tickets at a 7-Eleven in Annapolis.
He bought several new tickets and used some of the same numbers he has already played, lottery officials said.
When he checked the tickets later, he realized one had five matching white balls, but missed the red Powerball, scoring him a $1 million prize.
“I looked at it and I went to the Powerball site. I saw the numbers and I said, ‘No!’” he told the lottery office.
He then called his wife and the two celebrated the win.
“We had our crying moment,” he told officials. “Twenty minutes after that, when I put the ticket down, I went back to the other tickets.”
That’s when he realized he had used the same winning numbers on another ticket, so he had won $2 million, lottery officials said.
“It was mind blowing,” he said. “I had no idea I doubled it.”
Annapolis is about a 30-mile drive southeast from Baltimore.
What to know about Powerball
To score a jackpot in the Powerball, a player must match all five white balls and the red Powerball.
The odds of scoring the jackpot prize are 1 in 292,201,338.
Tickets can be bought on the day of the drawing, but sales times and price vary by state.
Drawings are broadcast Saturdays, Mondays and Wednesdays at 10:59 p.m. ET and can be streamed online.
Powerball is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Many people can gamble or play games of chance without harm. However, for some, gambling is an addiction that can ruin lives and families.
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.
Player just misses $1.13 billion Powerball jackpot — but still wins big in Washington
Powerball player wins $1 million in Georgia. Here’s where the winning ticket was sold
Woman accidentally buys Powerball ticket — and wins big. ‘Best mistake of my life’
