Uber Driver Wins $50K On Lottery Ticket Bought During Oil Change

GLEN BURNIE, MD — A Glen Burnie Uber driver originally from central Africa passed some time while getting an oil change and ended up winning $50,000 on a scratch-off ticket.

“I play Lottery very rarely,” said the husband and father. “My wife, however, really enjoys the scratch-off tickets.”

While having the car’s oil changed, the 35-year-old man took a walk. He told Lottery officials, “It was a nice afternoon and I’d been in the car since early in the morning, so it was nice to get out into the sun.”

When he noticed a Lottery sign at a gas station, he decided to pop in.

“When I saw it, I thought of getting two tickets for us to play that night," he said.

Having heard his wife talk about a $30 game, the Anne Arundel County resident picked out two of the first such scratch-offs he saw. This is how a VIP Club instant ticket worth $50,000 found its way from the Lansdowne Citgo, located at 2810 Hammonds Ferry Road in Baltimore, to the living room of his grateful Glen Burnie family.

“We each scratched a ticket after dinner,” he said. “Hers was not a winner and when I saw what mine showed, neither of us could believe it.”

It took a trip to a nearby Lottery retailer first thing the next morning to convince him that the $50,000 winning scratch-off was real. As for his wife?

“She still doesn’t believe!”

The Uber driver earned a mechanical engineering degree in his central African homeland. He plans to spend some of his winnings to update his education so he can get a job using his degree. The bulk of the prize, though, will go into the family savings account.

“My wife and I are firm believers in saving for the future, for our baby’s future,” he said.