A routine gas stop in Prince George’s County delivered a life-changing FAST PLAY win
Bowie, MD — A Prince George’s County correctional officer who spent decades favoring scratch-off lottery tickets decided to spend his last $3 on a FAST PLAY game during a routine gas station stop, a decision that landed him a $59,054 jackpot.
The Bowie resident purchased the winning SLINGO ticket at Hampton Mall Exxon, located at 8901 Central Avenue in Capitol Heights, during a stop in late September, according to the Maryland Lottery.
The man, who has played scratch-off games for decades, said FAST PLAY tickets had always been a secondary choice. That changed when his $3 purchase produced a jackpot worth more than $59,000.
A $3 decision delivers an unexpected payday
The winner had stopped to fill his gas tank when he followed his usual lottery routine, purchasing scratch-off tickets before spending the remaining $3 in his pocket on a SLINGO FAST PLAY ticket.
For years, scratch-offs had been his preferred games, even though he occasionally purchased FAST PLAY tickets.
“I’d buy FAST PLAY tickets once in a while,” the correctional officer told lottery officials. “But only after I’d gotten the scratch tickets I wanted. FAST PLAY was sort of an afterthought.”
That afterthought turned into his biggest lottery win.
After purchasing the ticket, he checked it using a lottery scanner and received an unfamiliar message instructing him to take the ticket to the Lottery.
Unsure what it meant, he drove to another retailer to check the ticket again.
The second scanner displayed the same message.
“The scanner told me to ‘Take to Lottery.’ I’d never seen that before,” he recalled.
Still uncertain, he asked a store clerk to check the ticket. That’s when he learned he had won the progressive jackpot.
Wife hears the excitement after jackpot discovery
The Bowie man called his wife to share the news after confirming the $59,054 prize.
According to the Maryland Lottery, his wife said she had never heard him sound so excited.
The couple already has plans for the money, with college expenses taking priority.
The winner visited Maryland Lottery headquarters in Baltimore on October 6 to collect his prize.
His win also marked the end of the Lottery’s SLINGO FAST PLAY game, making his jackpot the game’s final progressive jackpot payout.
Capitol Heights gas station earns bonus
Hampton Mall Exxon will also benefit from selling the winning ticket.
The Prince George’s County retailer will receive a $590.54 bonus from the Maryland Lottery for selling the progressive jackpot winner.
FAST PLAY games differ from traditional scratch-off tickets because players receive printed tickets with predetermined results rather than scratching a coating to reveal whether they have won.
The Maryland Lottery offers information about available instant-win games through its official FAST PLAY website.
The $59,054 win adds another substantial prize to Maryland Lottery payouts, with the latest winning ticket purchased in Prince George’s County.
For the longtime scratch-off player, the surprise jackpot has changed his approach to buying lottery tickets, moving FAST PLAY from an occasional afterthought to his new favorite type of game.