Annapolis man claims prize from July 31 drawing

An Annapolis golfer has spent several weeks working with a financial planner, thanks to his hole-in-one play with the Maryland Lottery’s $500,000 Multi-Match jackpot.

The 72-year-old retiree took the cash option on the July 31 win, resulting in about $350,500 for the former sales executive to enjoy with his wife. The first-time winner is amazed at his luck.

“I probably have only spent about $20 on Lottery tickets my whole life,” said the father of two adult children. Had he not heard the person ahead of him in line at the Quick Save Mart in Annapolis, our happy winner would still be playing in the rough rather than on the green. He was buying a sandwich and cup of coffee when he heard the customer getting Lottery tickets. The Anne Arundel County resident followed suit, buying tickets for the Multi-Match and Powerball drawings and went on his way. About a week later, he thought to check the tickets.

To his surprise, every Multi-Match number on one line of his $2 ticket matched those in the drawing. He also matched nine numbers of 18 played on the ticket, which meant a $500 win. The novice player wasn’t sure what all this meant financially so he called the Lottery for assistance. That news sent him to a financial planner and the rest is history!

Our winner said he and his wife haven’t yet decided what to do with their prize but plan to keep quiet about it. He’s been happily retired for the last decade and plans to continue enjoying playing golf and running the household while his “better half” continues to work.

For selling the winning ticket, the retailer at 524 Defense Highway in Annapolis received a $1,000 bonus from the Maryland Lottery.

Ties for fifth largest win in game’s history

One lucky Lottery player received the best gift of all on Christmas by becoming Maryland’s newest multi-millionaire. A $2.85 million winning Multi-Match ticket from last night’s drawing was purchased in Waldorf.

The winner, who is the ninth to hit a Multi-Match jackpot in 2014, can choose between the annuity and a cash option of more than $2.2 million. The winning numbers were 2, 6, 13, 18, 23 and 24. The ticket was purchased at the Safeway store located at 10 King St in Waldorf. That retailer will receive a $2,850 bonus.

The winner has 182 days to claim the prize in person at Lottery headquarters at 1800 Washington Blvd. in Baltimore. It had been rolling since an Annapolis winner hit a $500,000 jackpot on July 31. The largest Multi-Match jackpot win ever was $4.8 million in 2009.

Multi-Match is a $2 in-state game. Players match between three and five numbers on any one line to win up to $1,000. Match between five and 18 numbers total on all three lines combined to win up to $2,000 more.To win the jackpot, players match all six numbers on any one line. In addition to the jackpot win, the drawing produced more than 35,000 winners between $2 and $2,000.

Watch the televised drawings at 11:22 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays on WBAL TV. Results also are available online at mdlottery.com and on your smart phone. Simply download the free MD Lottery app in the Apple and Android app stores.

Wins top-tier prize on Christmas Day

When Maryland’s newest multimillionaire came into Lottery headquarters to claim his $2.85 million Multi-Match prize, he had a feeling of déjà vu. Almost 10 years ago, the lucky Parkville resident walked through those same doors to claim another large prize.

“I was here in 2005 when I won a $250,000 second-tier Mega Millions prize,” he said with a smile. “It’s great to be back.”

This time, the 39-year-old is walking away with a lot more change in his pocket. The winner chose the cash option for the prize, which came to more than $2.2 million.

The truck driver has played Multi-Match since the game began and likes to buy his tickets at different stores along his route. Last week, he stopped for gas at a Safeway store in Waldorf and felt like that was a good location to purchase tickets for the Christmas Day drawing.

He didn’t realize he’d won for several days. On Friday morning, he went online to mdlottery.com and saw that somebody hit the jackpot. He didn’t think much more about it. Later that day, he saw that the winning ticket was sold in Waldorf.

“I still didn’t think much of it until Saturday morning, when I saw that it was sold at the Safeway store,” he told Lottery officials. “That’s when I checked my numbers and realized that I was the winner!”

The last time he won, the father of two sons and his wife put a down payment on a house. With the Multi-Match prize, they plan to pay off the house, take a vacation and save for their children. The lucky Safeway store. located at 10 King Street in Waldorf, will receive a $2,850 bonus for selling the top-tier ticket.

This was the ninth Multi-Match jackpot in 2014. This jackpot began rolling after an Annapolis winner hit a $500,000 jackpot on July 31. The largest Multi-Match jackpot win ever was $4.8 million in 2009.

In-state lotto-style game offers stronger odds than Powerball, Mega Millions

If you enjoy lottery games and are looking for a good reason to play the Maryland Lottery’s Multi-Match, there are 2.35 million of them waiting to be found. That’s the estimated jackpot of the next Multi-Match drawing, scheduled for 11:22 p.m. tonight.

While the $2.35 million Multi-Match jackpot is significantly less than the Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots, the odds of winning in Multi-Match are substantially better. A look at the overall chances of winning each game tells the story:

Overall Probability to Win
Multi-Match: 1 in 8.5
Mega Millions: 1 in 14.71
Powerball: 1 in 31.85

Multi-Match tickets are $2 and give players four ways to win. Start by selecting one line of six numbers or choose the Quick Pick option to have your first six numbers randomly selected. Players also receive two additional lines of six randomly selected numbers. Each line provides a chance to win, and there’s a fourth chance by combining the matches in all three lines. Six numbers from 1 to 43 will be drawn. If you match three, four or five numbers on any single line, your ticket pays up to $1,000. Matching 5 to 18 numbers total on all three lines combined pays up to another $2,000. Matching all six numbers on a single line pays the jackpot.

Multi-Match tickets are available at more than 4,500 Maryland Lottery retailers across the state. To find a retailer in your area, visit our Retailer Locator. Multi-Match drawings are held Monday and Thursday nights and tickets may be purchased until 11:17 p.m. the night of each drawing.

Lottery customers can easily spot this lucky banner facing the highway and the gas pumps. Hanging the banner were (left to right) Lottery District Manager Keith Dixon; Teresa McGlaughlin, assistant store manager; and Nick Wake, manager.

Following family advice leads to new family fortune

While she rarely plays Maryland Lottery games, a Dorchester County woman always listens to advice offered by members of her family, she told lottery officials. Following that advice put a $625,000 winning Multi-Match ticket in her hand and she made a rare trip to the west side of the Chesapeake Bay to exchange it for her prize.

“It’s been driving me crazy,” she said of the nerve-wracking wait to claim her prize from the June 29 drawing. “I felt great when I realized that I’d won, of course, but now I feel even better. It’s done, now I can relax.”

The 60-something mother of one happened to be in Snow’s Turn Goose Creek convenience store at 1801 Race Street in Cambridge with a family member when he picked up a few Lottery tickets. “I almost never play, but he said that Multi-Match had pretty good money and pretty good odds, so I bought one (ticket).”

A call came the very next day to deliver the good news. “I thought he was joking,” she said. “The idea that I had won $625,000 was so impossible that I almost accused him of lying to me. I wanted to start dancing, but that wouldn’t have gone over too well at the office!”

As retirement time drew closer each year, the Cambridge medical technician became more and more concerned about how she would make ends meet. That worry is now gone, as are concerns about her daughter’s future.

“This money takes away several big things that have been keeping me up at night,” she said. “It’s just a huge weight off of my shoulders.”

The Multi-Match prize she claimed is the game’s second jackpot win this year. The first win of 2015 was a $3.6 million jackpot claimed by a Pasadena man. Multi-Match drawings take place every Monday and Thursday night; the drawing for tonight – July 23 – features a $650,000 jackpot!

Third jackpot hit in 2015

A lucky Maryland Lottery player from Baltimore who purchased Multi-Match tickets via subscription is the winner of a $2.6 million jackpot.

All six of the subscriber’s numbers came up in the Nov. 9 Multi-Match drawing, making that person a big winner in Maryland’s in-state jackpot game. The lucky numbers were 1, 3, 23, 31, 39 and 42. The winner can choose between the $2.6 million annuity and an estimated $2 million cash option. He or she has 182 days to claim the prize in person at Lottery headquarters located at 1800 Washington Blvd. in Baltimore.

This is the third Multi-Match jackpot win of 2015. The first was $3.6 million in the June 8 drawing – the fourth-largest jackpot since the game started in 2006 – claimed by a Pasadena resident. The other was $625,000 in the June 29 drawing, won by a Cambridge resident. Both of those winners chose to remain anonymous. The largest Multi-Match jackpot was $4.8 million on Sept. 19, 2009, claimed by two anonymous Dundalk residents.

The Nov. 9 Multi-Match drawing marked the first time in nearly two years that a subscriber won the game’s jackpot. A subscriber from White Plains won a $1.5 million prize in the Nov. 21, 2013 drawing.

Multi-Match and Mega Millions tickets are available by subscription from the Maryland Lottery. Players can select their own numbers or have them randomly selected and may choose to subscribe for 13, 26 or 52 weeks.

Multi-Match is a $2 game. The Lottery draws six numbers from 1 to 43 every Monday and Thursday night. Players match between three and five numbers on any one line to win up to $1,000. Match between five and 18 numbers total on all three lines combined to win up to $2,000 more. To win the jackpot, players match all six numbers on any one line. The overall chances of winning are 1 in 8.5.

A husband and wife from Baltimore were the lucky winners of a $2.6 million Multi-Match jackpot in the Nov. 9 drawing.

Longtime subscriber is lucky winner of $2.6 million jackpot

An easy-going Baltimore retiree is the lucky winner of the ninth-largest jackpot in the nearly 10-year history of the Maryland Lottery’s Multi-Match game.

The longtime Lottery player and his wife arrived at Lottery headquarters on Nov. 18 to claim the $2.6 million prize he won in the Nov. 9 drawing. The winner has purchased his tickets by subscription since the in-state jackpot game began in 2006.

“I do it for the convenience,” he said. “You don’t have to stand in line at the store to buy the tickets and you don’t have to check the numbers.”

Indeed, he hadn’t yet looked at the winning numbers when he received a call the next morning from Maryland Lottery Director of Communications Carole Everett. She said his subscription matched the winning numbers: 1, 3, 23, 31, 39 and 42. He remained calm, cool and collected during that conversation.

“I’m pretty low-key,” he said with a smile.

While he is a long-term subscriber, the Baltimore resident said the largest single prize he’d previously won in Multi-Match was $20.

“I’m proof that if you keep playing you’ll win eventually,” he said, adding that he’s stuck with Multi-Match because the odds of winning a prize are better than in other games.

Multi-Match drawings take place every Monday and Thursday with a 1 in 8.5 chance of winning any prize. Only Multi-Match and Mega Millions tickets are available by subscription from the Lottery. Players can select their own numbers or have them randomly selected and may choose to subscribe for 13, 26 or 52 weeks.

The Nov. 9 Multi-Match drawing marked the first time in nearly two years that a subscriber won the game’s jackpot. A subscriber from White Plains won a $1.5 million prize in the Nov. 21, 2013 drawing.

This is also the third time the game has produced a jackpot winner this year. The first was $3.6 million in the June 8 drawing – the fourth-largest jackpot since the game’s history – claimed by a Pasadena resident. The other was $625,000 in the June 29 drawing, won by a Cambridge resident. The largest Multi-Match jackpot was $4.8 million on Sept. 19, 2009, claimed by two anonymous Dundalk residents.

This lucky winner of the $2.6 million prize and his wife of more than 40 years have opted to claim the prize as an annuity that will pay them about $68,000 a year after taxes for the next 25 years. They’ve decided not to tell their children and grandchildren about their Lottery luck – at least, not for now.

“We’ll pay some bills, fix up the house – and then leave the money to the kids,” the winner said.

The jackpot win came near the end of the Baltimore man’s subscription. “I’ve resubscribed already,” he said.

Port Republic player claims $600,000 prize from Nov. 26 drawing

A Calvert County woman who was playing her late mother’s lucky Lottery numbers just claimed a $600,000 Multi-Match prize!

The avid player, who won in the Nov. 26 drawing, waited until 2016 to collect her winnings. She was the fourth Multi-Match jackpot winner of 2015.

Following a routine pays off, according to the longtime player. Every Monday and Thursday, the Port Republic resident visits a 7-Eleven in Prince Frederick to buy a Multi-Match ticket with four games. She always plays the same numbers, which are the birth dates of her late mother and stepfather. Her mother used those same lucky numbers when playing the Lottery’s discontinued Lotto game.

Our 49-year-old winner was standing in line at a department store, scrolling through her emails, when she saw a notification from the Lottery. Within the email were the winning Multi-Match numbers for the Nov. 26 drawing. She took a quick peek and realized her numbers matched!

“My hands were shaking,” she said. Her brother, who was in the store with her, thought someone had died because of her reaction. She quietly shared her great news with him and left him standing in line while she ran to the car to grab her winning ticket off the dashboard.

The legal secretary of 30 years plans to use her prize to pay off some bills and possibly take a vacation. Her lucky 7-Eleven #32426 located at 685 North Prince Frederick Boulevard also benefits from the win. The Lottery retailer will receive a $1,000 bonus from the Lottery for selling a jackpot-winning ticket.

First hit in 2016 for in-state jackpot game

A lucky Maryland Lottery player woke up this morning with a little extra pep. A Multi-Match ticket from last night’s drawing matched all six numbers, making it worth $2.1 million. The winning ticket was purchased at the Safeway store, located at 444 WMC Drive in Westminster.

The lucky numbers were 8, 10, 21, 28, 42 and 43. The winner can choose between the $2.1 million annuity or an estimated $1.7 million cash option. He or she has 182 days to claim the prize in person at Lottery headquarters located at 1800 Washington Blvd. in Baltimore. Lottery officials urge the winner to sign the back of the ticket and keep it in a safe place until he or she is able to claim.

The lucky ticketholder isn’t the only winner. For selling the winning jackpot ticket, Safeway will receive a $2,100 bonus.

This is the first Multi-Match jackpot win of 2016. The jackpot was last hit on Nov. 9, 2015 when an anonymous winner who purchased his tickets via subscription took home a $2.6 million jackpot. The largest Multi-Match jackpot ever was $4.8 million on Sept. 19, 2009, claimed by two anonymous Dundalk residents.

Multi-Match is a $2 game. The Lottery draws six numbers from 1 to 43 every Monday and Thursday night. Players match between three and five numbers on any one line to win up to $1,000. Match between five and 18 numbers total on all three lines combined to win up to $2,000 more. To win the jackpot, players match all six numbers on any one line.

Watch the drawings at 11:22 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays on WBAL-TV. Results also are available online at mdlottery.com and on your smart phone. Simply download the free MD Lottery app in the Apple and Android app stores.

An anonymous Westminster man claimed the $2.1 million Multi-Match jackpot from the March 24 drawing.

Westminster man claims top prize in Maryland-only jackpot game.

A Westminster man checking his Maryland Lottery Multi-Match ticket experienced a jolt of red-hot excitement reminiscent of his days aboard a Baltimore City Fire Engine en route to battle blazes. The 85-year-old retired fire captain was startled to discover he held the winning ticket for the game’s $2.1 million jackpot.

The lucky Carroll County resident, who plays no other Maryland Lottery games, made Multi-Match his game of choice shortly after it evolved from the original Lotto game in 2006. “Mostly I just win small amounts,” he said, “but occasionally I win something big.” His previous top prize was $125, a figure dwarfed by the March 24 jackpot. His March 24 jackpot hit is the first Multi-Match win of 2016.

The loyal player discovered the win on the morning of March 25 after breakfast. He was sipping his coffee when he checked the numbers online. The lucky man matched the results to his ticket one number at a time, circling the numbers as he went so he could quickly figure the number of total matches. When he circled his sixth number in one row, he couldn’t believe his luck. He checked the results at least a dozen times to confirm his win.

The lucky man, who retired after serving more than two decades with the Baltimore City Fire Department, now enjoys woodworking and antiques. He opted for the Multi-Match jackpot’s lump-sum payment, which will deliver an estimated $1.7 million before taxes.

Will the money change his life? Not really, he said. He has no immediate plans for spending the prize or for changing his lifestyle or activities. That means Lottery retailers can look for him to keep playing Multi-Match. His Lottery luck is still working because his ticket for the drawing following his jackpot win brought him another $7 prize.

The Lottery retailer that sold him the winning ticket also benefits. For selling a top-prize scratch-off, Safeway #1616 located at 444 WMC Drive in Westminster earned a bonus of $2,100 from the Lottery.

2nd jackpot hit in 2016

Check your Multi-Match tickets because a lucky Maryland Lottery player bought an $875,000 jackpot-winning ticket in Perry Hall for the Monday, May 16 drawing.

The winner, who is the second player to hit a Multi-Match jackpot in 2016, can choose between the annuity and an estimated $600,000 cash option. The winning ticket with the numbers 5, 7, 12, 16, 21 and 33 came from the Giant #2304 located at 8905 Belair Road in Perry Hall.

Lottery officials encourage the winner to sign the back of the ticket immediately and keep it in a safe location. The player has 182 days to claim the prize in person at Lottery headquarters located at 1800 Washington Blvd. in Baltimore.

“Multi-Match is a fun game that sometimes gets overshadowed by the big multistate jackpot games,” said Gordon Medenica, director of Maryland Lottery and Gaming. “But its loyal players love the game and love winning!”

The lucky retailer will receive a $1,000 bonus for selling the ticket. In 2016, the Lottery already saw one Multi-Match jackpot win and four in 2015. The top three Multi-Match jackpot wins were $4.8 million on Sept. 19, 2009; $4.45 million on March 18, 2010 and $3.8 million on Dec. 16, 2010.

      Multi-Match is a $2 game. The Lottery draws six numbers from one to 43 every Monday and Thursday night. Players match between three and five numbers on any one line to win up to $1,000. Match between five and 18 numbers total on all three lines combined to win up to $2,000 more. To win the jackpot, players match all six numbers on any one line. The overall chances of winning are 1 in 8.5.

Watch the drawings at 11:22 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays on WBAL TV. Results also are available online at mdlottery.com and on your smartphone. Simply download the free MD Lottery app in the Apple and android app stores.

Nottingham man splits $875,000 prize with daughters

A Nottingham resident welcomed both abnormality and $875,000 with open arms this week as he and his two adult daughters split the second Maryland Lottery Multi-Match jackpot prize of 2016.

The Baltimore County man is a regular Multi-Match player. A switch from using his regular birthday numbers helped the financial services worker catch the elusive win during the game’s May 16 drawing.

“I’ve come close with several of the games, matching four out of five numbers or five out of six numbers, but I always thought I’d win the big one with the Multi-Match,” he said.

He purchased the lucky ticket at Giant #2304 in Nottingham on the way home from a recent vacation. Rested and relaxed, the hopeful player decided not to stress about picking numbers. Instead, the married dad bought a terminal quick-pick ticket packed with random digits.

After checking the ticket the next day, he felt the shock of finally winning his jackpot wash over him. The 57-year-old quietly left his office and met his wife at work to deliver his good news in person. “I came in, shut her office door behind me,” said the winner. Without saying a word, he reached into his pocket and simply pulled out the jackpot-winning Multi-Match ticket and showed it to her.

The winner plans to continue chasing jackpots and will spend this prize to clear debts, pay off his children’s student loans and pay several other family bills. Sharing in his family’s jackpot joy is the Giant #2304 located at 8905 Belair Road in Nottingham. For selling a jackpot-winning ticket between $500,000 and $1 million, the retailer receives a Lottery bonus of $1,000.