BALTIMORE, MD—A Maryland Lottery player who was on the fence about retiring has made up his mind, thanks to winning the top-tier prize of $1,000 a Day for Life in the February 8 Cash4Life drawing.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of years, even more this year,” said the player, who is going by the name “Lucky Winner” to tell his tale of good fortune. “This put me off the fence,” he added.

A frequent player who partakes of a range of Maryland Lottery games, “Lucky Winner” said the attraction to try his luck has always been “just in case something like this happens.”

A military veteran whose second career is with a federal agency, “Lucky Winner” and his wife purchased a retirement home in Florida a few years ago. The Maryland man has been pondering his game plan for moving to the Sunshine State full time.

Once the ink is dry and his claim is squared away, he said, “the papers will drop.”

While a nice retirement has been in the works for a long time, the Cash4Life win will make it that much nicer, he said, and allow for a fair amount of travel. “Lucky Winner” himself saw plenty of the world when he was in the service, so he says he will leave destination decisions up to his wife.

And, speaking of his wife, as of the time he claimed the prize on March 1, she was unaware of the life-changing win!

“I’m going to call my wife this evening and tell her to stay low-key,” he said, adding, “She’s going to be surprised.”

He bought the ticket on February 8 at Chadwick Liquors in Woodlawn. The “Lucky Winner” purchased the $10 quick-pick ticket for that night’s drawing and kept it with a little stack of other tickets purchased last month. Earlier this week, he decided to check all of the tickets for a win and took them to a shop to scan them.

Although he’s won smaller amounts before, “Lucky Winner” had never seen a message like the one that appeared when he scanned the hot Cash4Life ticket. The message instructed him to take the ticket to Maryland Lottery headquarters in Baltimore.

Still not fully aware of the magnitude of the prize, he called the Lottery and learned he won a substantial prize. Top-tier Cash4Life winners can choose from $1,000 a Day for Life or a $7 million cash option, which is what he selected. The next day, he was still shaken and a little bit in disbelief.

A tithing member of his church community, “Lucky Winner” plans to give 10% to his church, and expects a surprised reaction. “My pastor is going to say, ‘What in the world?’”

This is the fifth top-tier prize won in Maryland. A Cecil County pair claimed a top-prize winning Cash4Life ticket sold Aug. 29, 2022 by Eagles Nest gas station in Chesapeake City. On Feb. 11, 2020, “Bahama Mama” of Salisbury won the game’s top prize. William Brown of Pikesville won the top prize in the Aug. 7, 2017 drawing. And, Maryland’s first top-tier winner in Cash4Life was a Frederick County Public Schools employee in the May 2, 2016 drawing.