Bel Air Postman Wins $100,000 Playing Lottery At Grocery Store

BEL AIR, MD — A retired Bel Air postman won $100,000 recently, according to the Maryland Lottery.

The 78-year-old has his own routine when it comes to playing the lottery. A few times a week for the last several months, he has purchased one $30 ticket.

“I’m superstitious about two numbers,” the Bel Air resident told lottery officials. “I try to see the ticket number of the scratch-off before I buy it. If one of my numbers is in that ticket number, I buy it.”

When he went to the Greenbrier Safeway last Wednesday, he purchased a scratch-off but because it was in a vending machine, he said he could not see the ticket number. Realizing the next ticket in the machine would have his number, he did something new and bought a second ticket.

“It was that second ticket,” he said, which was the winner. “The scanner told me to see the cashier. I started shaking. It had to mean that I’d won a big prize.”

Indeed, he had. The retired postman learned he was to receive $100,000 — the top prize — from the $100,000 Lucky scratch-off game.

He went home to share the news with his wife, who was sick in bed, officials said.

“She started crying when I told her,” the Bel Air man said. He and his wife plan to spend some of the prize money to pay medical bills, officials reported.

For selling a top-tier ticket, the Safeway on Brierhill Drive will also receive $1,000.