NOTTINGHAM, MD—A Nottingham man is laughing all the way to the bank after buying a winning $20,200 scratch-off ticket.

“I’ve been looking for this ticket for a long time,” said the 39-year-old restaurant employee as he sat in the Maryland Lottery Winner’s Circle.

While the specific game that produced the biggest win of his life was a 2020 Cash scratch-off, the Nottingham resident was speaking about the prize he just claimed. “I really felt that I would hit a big one some day and here it is!”

The Baltimore County resident said he discovered his top-prize win as his fiancée bathed their daughter in the next room.

“I was talking with her when I saw the matching numbers and then the prize. I just froze, I couldn’t catch my breath.” She called to him, alarmed that he had stopped the conversation mid-sentence. “She couldn’t come in the room because she had the baby in the tub, but she kept calling my name.” The shocked player found his voice a few moments later. “I told her, ‘This might be big.’ ”

The couple plans to add the winnings to the family’s house down-payment fund. They will soon begin the search for their first new home.

The 2020 Cash scratch-off game, a $20 instant ticket, debuted in November 2019 and has five more $20,200 top prizes to offer players.

The Maryland Lottery awarded a $202 bonus to the owners of Belair Liquors at 7631 Belair Road in Nottingham for selling the lucky top-prize winning scratch-off.

Photo by John Guccione www.advergroup.com from Pexels