$1M Lottery Prize Option Claimed By Upper Marlboro Man Who Won With Cash4Life Ticket

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — A lottery fan from Upper Marlboro ended up winning a second-tier Cash4Life prize of $1,000 a week for life. Instead, he chose the $1 million instead.

The lucky man won the big prize with a Quick Pick ticket for the drawing held June 18. The Upper Marlboro resident had stopped at his local Wegmans store to grab lunch for work when he decided to purchase his regular lottery games. Among his purchases was a $10 Cash4Life Quick Pick ticket for the drawing to be held that evening. From there, he went on to work and didn’t check his tickets until the next day.

“I played my numbers and scanned the tickets,” he said when he claimed the prize at Maryland Lottery headquarters. “I saw the message that said ‘go to Lottery Headquarters’ so I knew it was something big.”

The shocked player handed the ticket to the cashier who confirmed that the fourth line out of the five lines of numbers on his ticket delivered the $1,000-a-week-for-life win. In Cash4Life, players select five numbers from a range of 1 to 60 and one cash ball number from 1 to 4. To win the second-tier prize, players match the first five numbers without matching the cash ball number. Had the lucky winner matched the cash ball as well, he would have won the game’s top prize of $1,000 a day for life.

“I called my wife and told her to check the lottery’s website, because somebody won and it was me,” he smiled.

“I told him, ‘Don’t play with me,” said the winner’s wife, who accompanied him to claim the prize. “He came home and we checked the ticket together and he was right, it was real.”

As second-tier winners, the couple had the choice of $1,000 a week for life, paid in annual installments of $52,000, or a one-time cash option of $1 million. They decided to take the $1 million, and the ticket also won an additional $2 on one of its other lines. The winner said he plans to use the prize money to pay bills and invest.

The Prince George’s County resident was the first to win a second-tier Cash4Life prize in Maryland this year and the 12th since the game made its Maryland debut in January 2016. The Wegmans store located at 9001 McHugh Drive in Lanham will receive a $2,500 bonus from the Maryland Lottery for selling the winning ticket.