Oct. 27 (UPI) — A Maryland man is celebrating his luck after collecting a $2 million jackpot from a scratch-off lottery ticket — for the second time.
The 65-year-old Salisbury man told Maryland Lottery officials he was running his morning errands when he stopped at the North Salisbury Exxon station and bought a pair of $2,000,000 Richer scratch-off tickets.
The first ticket earned the man a $100 prize, and the second was a $2 million top prize winner.
The winner said the COVID-19 pandemic led him to put the winning ticket into a safe for several months.
“I was just a bit nervous,” he said. “I worried that I could have a fire that would burn it up, that the ticket’s expiration date might come up and even had just a bit of doubt that it was really real.”
The man claimed his prize days before the prize would have expired.
The winner previously claimed a $2 million prize from a scratch-off ticket several years earlier. He offered some tips for other would-be winners.
“Be realistic and make sure that when you play that you aren’t just playing for the big jackpot. Play for enjoyment and as long as you enjoy what you are doing, win or lose, you’ve already won,” he said.
The man said his first jackpot went towards his retirement and a family vacation. He said his latest prize will finance some home improvements and another vacation.