Man thinks he won $100 with lottery ticket — but it was much more. ‘Wow, this is big’
A small prize on a man’s lottery ticket led to him picking up a scratch-off worth much more, Maryland lottery officials said.
Pastor Machado Benitez’s quick stop for gas turned into a reason for celebration when he bought a lottery ticket worth $100,000, according to a Feb. 15 Maryland Lottery news release.
Benitez had spent the whole day “playing chauffeur” for his family, and he needed to pick up his wife, lottery officials said.
He stopped at a Wawa in Adelphi to fill up his tank, according to lottery officials, and decided to buy a few scratch-off tickets while he was there.
The construction worker bought three tickets initially, and the first two turned out to be duds, according to lottery officials. But his third ticket had a $10 prize, so Benitez brought it to the clerk to cash out and buy one last 50X The Cash lottery ticket.
Then, he started scratching off his ticket in the store, according to lottery officials.
“I saw the “X” symbol and thought maybe I won $100,” the College Park resident said in the release. “But, when I saw that $10,000, I thought ‘Wow, this is big.’”
His prize turned out to be much larger — $100,000, lottery officials said.
He quickly put away his ticket and went to fill up on gas for his car, according to lottery officials. Then he raced over to pick up his wife and told her about the big win.
“I was shocked,” his wife told lottery officials.
Now Benitez, a father of two children, will use the money toward a new home, according to lottery officials.
Adelphi is about 10 miles northeast of Washington, D.C.
This story was originally published February 15, 2024 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Man thinks he won $100 with lottery ticket — but it was much more. ‘Wow, this is big’."
