Jackpot confusion leads Maryland man to $1 million lottery prize

Dec. 9 (UPI) -- A Maryland man said his confusion about which lottery drawing had a historic jackpot on the line led to his winning a $1 million Mega Millions prize.

The Adelphi man told Maryland Lottery officials he is only an occasional lottery player and doesn't regularly play any games.

"I don't have a favorite game, really. Not even one I've played more than once or twice," the hospital maintenance worker said. "And, I wouldn't have bought a ticket that day but for all the talk I heard about the jackpot."

The man said he was driving home from work in early November "when the jackpot stuff popped in my head."

The player stopped at the 7-Eleven store in Adelphi, but while at the store he couldn't remember which drawing was supposed to have a historic jackpot on the line.

"Just to be sure, I got a Mega Millions and Powerball ticket," the man said.

The Nov. 7 Powerball jackpot was $2.04 billion, but it was the man's ticket for the Nov. 8 Mega Millions drawing that earned him a $1 million prize.

The man said he was shocked when he scanned his ticket at a local store.

"I kept telling myself that I'd seen $100,000 on the screen, that I had imagined that last zero," he recalled.

The winner visited Maryland Lottery headquarters in Baltimore to claim his prize.