"I love the work I do, so breaking my foot on the job hurt me in more ways than one," the man said. "Because I couldn't go to work, I started to play the lottery."
The man said he started buying the $30 $2,000,000 Richer and $2,000,000 Mega Bucks scratch-off tickets, and he ended up winning four $500 prizes in the space of only two weeks.
The lucky player said a friend suggested he also try out the $20 Max A Million game, so he bought one of the tickets from Carney Liquors in Baltimore.
"I went in, stood in line, and studied the box of scratch-offs," he said. "When it was my turn I selected the Max A Million just as my friend suggested, but when the clerk tried to pull it out, the ticket got stuck. That's when I said out loud, 'This must be a winner because it doesn't want to come out.'"
The man's joke proved prophetic as the ticket turned out to be a $1 million winner.
"It was unbelievable," the winner said. "I called my mother immediately and told her I thought I was a winner. She told me to sign the back of it and take it back to the retailer and ask them to scan it again, which I did. I told my boss and he asked if I was coming back to work. I love my job, so I will certainly go back to work. I even took a photo with my boss before I came in today."
The man said the money will help him find a new home and upgrade his car.
"I used to have a boat when I was a boy growing up in Middle River. My father and I would go fishing for barracuda and crabbing," he said. "It would be nice to have a boat again."
