Backup strategy pays off

By Kate Northrop

BALTIMORE, Md. — A Maryland man's forgetfulness inadvertently doubled his Powerball Double Play lottery win to a cool $1 million.

One Maryland lottery player ended up with $1 million in winnings from a Powerball Double Play drawing after a slight error turned out to work in his favor.

The Prince George's County resident, who goes by the name "Proud Granddad" to preserve his identity, told the Maryland Lottery that he couldn't recall whether he had already purchased a Powerball ticket for the Aug. 20 drawing.

So, on Aug. 18, he figured he'd rather be safe than sorry and purchased a multi-draw ticket that covered the next three drawings and included the Double Play add-on.

He chose his numbers using family birth years and won a $500,000 prize in the Aug. 20 Powerball Double Play drawing. He matched all five white ball numbers in the draw, which were 16, 17, 23, 46, and 52, just missing the red Powerball number 3.

After the ticket purchase on Aug. 18, "Proud Granddad" and his wife went on a trip out of state, and the Aug. 20 Powerball drawing occurred while they were away. When he checked the results, the retiree was sure he had purchased a second ticket with the same numbers.

"I played it and I forgot I played it," he said to Lottery officials.

He told his wife about the $500,000 Double Play win just in the off chance he was wrong but made a mental note to look around for that second possible winning ticket when he returned home.

His instincts were right. "Proud Granddad" found a Powerball ticket from an Aug. 12 purchase that also held the same winning Double Play numbers for the Aug. 20 drawing.

"To look her in the eye and say I had a $500,000 win was good," the winner recalled in a press release. "It was really good to say I had a million! It's truly an unbelievable moment!"

The couple, who recently retired, visited Lottery headquarters in Baltimore to claim the two prizes totaling $1 million on Aug. 26. They have a big family, they said, and the winnings will go far to help out their children and grandchildren.

With a satisfying Powerball win in his pocket, "Proud Granddad" said he doesn't plan on quitting playing the lottery anytime soon. Instead, he has his sights set on another multi-state game.

"That was Powerball. Maybe Mega Millions is waiting," he promised.

The winner purchased two winning tickets at two different locations: one at Landover Hills Exxon on Annapolis Road in Landover and the other at A-1 Laundromat on Riverdale Road in Riverdale. For selling the winning tickets, each retailer receives a $1,000 bonus from the Lottery.

Two tickets, one from Texas and the other from Missouri, won the second-largest lottery jackpot in world history this past weekend, finally bringing the $1.8 billion Powerball run to a halt after 41 consecutive drawings without a winner. The next Powerball annuity jackpot estimate for the drawing on Wednesday, Sept. 10 currently stands at $33 million.

Powerball is currently offered for sale in 45 states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Tickets cost $2 each.

Powerball lottery results are published within minutes of the drawing at USA Mega (www.usamega.com). The USA Mega website provides lottery players in-depth information about the United States' two biggest multi-state lottery games, Mega Millions and Powerball.

(Click to display full-size in gallery)"Proud Granddad" proudly shows off his fingertips as he stands with his celebratory check.