The longtime lottery partners finally hit big after years of pooling their money for Powerball tickets
HYATTSVILLE, MD – A $1 decision turned a $50,000 Powerball prize into a $100,000 payday for two retired U.S. Department of Transportation coworkers who have spent years pooling their money for lottery tickets in Maryland.
The longtime lottery partners won the six-figure prize in the Aug. 24 Powerball drawing and claimed it Friday at Maryland Lottery headquarters in Baltimore.
One winner lives in Virginia and the other in DC, but the pair regularly buys their Powerball tickets in Maryland.
Their lottery partnership stretches back to their years working together at the U.S. Department of Transportation. They initially pooled their money when Powerball jackpots climbed high enough to catch their attention.
After retiring, the two changed their routine and began buying tickets for every drawing.
Previous wins were typically around $5, which they put toward additional tickets.
That changed after the Aug. 24 drawing.
One of the partners took their tickets to her usual Maryland location and scanned them at a Lottery vending machine. Instead of displaying a routine prize, the machine instructed her to contact the Lottery.
Unsure what the message meant, she asked a neighbor who happened to be inside the store and learned it could signal a substantial prize.
She then checked the ticket using a scanner at the counter and discovered it was worth $100,000.
The winner photographed the ticket and sent the image to her longtime lottery partner.
Their ticket matched four of the five white balls plus the red Powerball, normally worth $50,000.
But the partners had spent an additional $1 for the Power Play option.
The multiplier for the Aug. 24 drawing was 2X, doubling their $50,000 prize to $100,000.
The winning ticket was sold at the Giant grocery store at 5815 Eastern Ave. in Hyattsville.
Both winners told the Maryland Lottery they are comfortably retired without outstanding bills and have not decided what they will do with their winnings.
Key Points
- Two retired U.S. Department of Transportation coworkers won $100,000 on a Powerball ticket purchased in Hyattsville.
- Their ticket matched four white balls plus the red Powerball for a $50,000 prize, which a $1 Power Play purchase doubled to $100,000.
- Giant at 5815 Eastern Ave. in Hyattsville sold the winning ticket from the Aug. 24 drawing.
