A father from Ellicott City has won a life-changing lottery prize after changing a small part of his usual routine. The Maryland man, who chose the nickname "Multi-Match Maniac" to stay anonymous, won a jackpot worth 570,000 dollars, which is around Rs 5 crore, in the Multi-Match lottery draw held on April 16.
The man had been playing the same set of numbers twice a week for several years. Usually, he checked his ticket by scanning it after each draw. However, on this occasion, he decided to look up the winning numbers himself.
To his surprise, all six numbers on the final line of his ticket matched the winning combination: 02, 06, 08, 12, 29 and 38. The perfect match earned him the top jackpot prize in the game.
The winner said his first reaction was disbelief. He recalled staring at the numbers and thinking that it could not possibly be true. In the same draw, 15 other players won 1,000 dollars each by matching five of the six numbers, while another player received 2,000 dollars for matching 10 of the 18 numbers on the ticket.
The following day, the father visited a local lottery shop to collect his prize. However, staff informed him that the amount was too large to cash there. The response left him worried, so he quickly signed the ticket and hid it safely at home.
Nearly a month later, after fearing he might lose the ticket, he finally visited lottery headquarters and chose the cash payout option of 320,000 dollars.
The proud father said the money would mainly be used to pay for his daughter's university education, adding that helping her secure her future was the best part of his win.
