Denton player wins $1 million playing the $1 Million Royale Scratch-off
A 47-year-old Lottery player from the Eastern Shore is glad he stopped to cash a $50 winning scratch-off earlier this week. That smaller win led to a much bigger prize of $1 million.
The construction worker was on his way to work Monday morning when he quickly stopped at the Safeway in Pasadena. He had a scratch-off he wanted to scan and it turned out to be a $50 winner. The lucky guy used his win to purchase two $20 scratch-offs, including a $1 Million Royale ticket, and one $10 scratch-off. He rushed off to work, not looking at his tickets until later.
When the big winner was on his way home, he stopped to get gas and decided to scratch his three games. The Caroline County man said he “almost fell over” after revealing the top prize on the $1 Million Royale ticket.
“The first game was a $55 winner, and I was pretty happy about that,” said the Denton resident. “No win on the second, but that third ticket almost gave me a heart attack.”
The lucky player immediately called his girlfriend to share the news.
“I was stuttering that I hit and she thought I was saying that I was in a car accident,” he chuckled. “She said, ‘hit what, what did you hit’.”
Later at home, the big winner showed her exactly what he hit and they celebrated. Once they calmed down, the father and grandfather locked his ticket in a safe. He claimed the prize today.
The Eastern Shore man shared that he will buy new vehicles for both he and his girlfriend and will save the rest of his winnings.
For its role in selling the $1 million top-prize winning scratch-off, the Safeway #1539 located at 4211 Mountain Road in Pasadena earns a $1,000 bonus from the Lottery. Many prizes remain on the $1 Million Royale scratch-off including five more $1 million top prizes, five $50,000 prizes, sixty-one $10,000 prizes and hundreds of thousands ranging from $10 to $5,000.
