BALTIMORE, MD—He’s been a fan of the Maryland Lottery’s in-state rolling jackpot game Multi-Match for years, the Howard County man said, but had never won more than a few hundred dollars on the game – until the December 7 drawing. That was his lucky day as he hit the jackpot for $620,000.

The game has a similar appeal to the multistate jackpot games of Mega Millions and Powerball but the odds are better, he said. Players have a 1 in about 2 million chance of winning the jackpot on a $2 ticket for Multi-Match, while Mega Millions’ jackpot-winning odds are 1 in 302 million and Powerball’s jackpot-winning odds are 1 in 292 million.

The Columbia winner bought $10 worth of tickets, five in all, on the evening of December 7 at the Royal Farms store located at 8268 Lark Brown Drive in Elkridge. He played a mix of quick-pick and personal numbers. After the drawing, he used the Maryland Lottery app on his smartphone to check for a win.

“It said, ‘Take to retailer,’ so I checked it again,” he recalled.

When he got the same message, the lucky player looked up the winning numbers and realized he had matched all six numbers on a single line for a jackpot win.

“This couldn’t be me,” he said, adding that he was in disbelief. He called his wife, who was in a different part of their home, and asked her to check and double check the information. They confirmed the win, but it was still hard to take in.

The following day at Maryland Lottery headquarters in Baltimore, he said, “It still hasn’t sunk in yet.”

When he made his claim, the loyal player said he had no solid plans for the windfall. There will be some gifts to charity, and some funds will go to help out family members and bring personal finances into square, he said. But that will still leave a big chunk of funds and decisions on that will need to wait until the reality sinks in.

This is the 10th Multi-Match jackpot win of 2023. The game’s jackpot was last hit for $500,000 on October 23 in Seabrook. Six Multi-Match jackpots were won in 2022 and there were five jackpot winners in 2021.