BALTIMORE, MD—A Harford County man arrived at Maryland Lottery headquarters with a winner’s story that serves as a reminder that one can never know when hard times are going to improve.

Last Wednesday found him stopping at the Wawa located at 709 Belair Road for gas and a cup of coffee. Maryland’s newest multimillionaire admits to feeling a bit down that day, having recently closed a restaurant that was a significant focus of his life. As he was about to exit the store, the Bel Air resident saw the Maryland Lottery vending machine.

“I buy a ticket every once in a while,” he said. “It’s never a planned thing, usually it’s just when I see a sign or notice the machine.”

Immediately after seeing this machine, he realized it wasn’t turned on. Informed by the clerk that the machine was being repaired that very morning, the scratch-off player went about his day. However, his mind kept returning to thoughts of the Lottery purchase he didn’t make.

The errands he ran that day brought him back near Wawa.

“Maybe it’s because I couldn’t get it earlier, but for some reason, I really wanted that Lottery ticket. I promise you, though, that I had no thought that it would be a winner and certainly not what it turned out to be.”

After scratching off a $30 Cash Is King instant ticket he picked from the now-repaired machine, the lucky player was sure that he was seeing things.

“I counted the zeros and was amazed that I’d won $2,000. Then, I counted the zeros again.”

The magnitude of the $2 million top-prize win struck him immediately.

“I was overwhelmed,” he said, describing the prize as “a real life changer.”

The winner is thinking about using the prize to open a new restaurant in the future and bringing back employees who lost jobs when he went out of business.

Photo via Pixabay