$576K Winning Lotto Ticket Helps Prince George's County Retiree Pay Off Mortgage

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — A Prince George's lottery player has won $576,900 in the Bonus Match 5 game. The retiree purchased the same number 25 times for the July 21 drawing.

The player, who is a Bonus Match 5 regular and rarely plays other lottery games, matched all five of the regular numbers on all 25 tickets to win $576,900. Typically, the game has a top prize of $50,000, but the top-prize pool amount is limited to $600,000. If more than 12 top-prize winning tickets are sold, the prize pool is divided equally among the winning tickets.

The Prince George’s County winner, who began the claims process recently, did not win the full $600,000 prize pool because another player in Harford County coincidentally purchased one ticket with the same lucky combination. Each of the 26 winning combinations sold is worth $23,076.

“I’ll be happy just to have my house paid off,” said the Prince George’s County winner.

Retired from the federal government after 30 years of service, she has played Bonus Match 5 for many years. The loyal player started out buying a single combination for the game’s daily drawings. One day, when she was buying her ticket, someone suggested she play the same combination multiple times to increase the prize if she won. It sounded like a good idea, and it is, up until the 12th time that combination is sold, she told lottery officials.

Over the years, she has won lower-tier prizes – the game has prizes at $2, $15, $30, $400 and $600 for matching combinations other than the first five balls drawn – and ended up increasing those winnings by having multiple tickets. The number of times she plays a single combination varies. Often it has been 24 times, but for the July 21 drawing, she bought 25, she told lottery officials.

Also benefiting from the win is the 7-Eleven at 8200 Martin Luther King Jr. Highway in Glenarden. The Prince George’s County store receives a bonus of $5,769, equal to 1 percent of the winnings for each of the 25 tickets.