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"Big Mike" collected a $50,000 "Pick 5" prize after the lucky Lottery player lost his keys, retraced his steps, and found them in front of his truck, prompting him to pick up the golden ticket.
The Waldorf man said that he believed the incident to not be an inconvenience, but instead as a sign that he should play his license plate number, so he placed a $1 straight bet on the numbers, went home and didn't check to see if he was a winner until later that afternoon.
Sure enough, he won a five-figure prize, quintupling his previous best win, after more than 40 years of trying his luck playing "Pick 3," "Pick 4," "Pick 5," and the occasional "Powerball" ticket when the jackpot gets high enough.
“I checked the winning Pick 5 numbers on my phone using the website that afternoon and I thought I was being pranked or misreading the numbers,” he said.
"Big Mike" said that he was so overwhelmed that he fell to his knees and had his adult daughter come verify their big score, which she did, leading to a dance party and a few beers, he mused.
The Charles County man called the $50,000 prize an early birthday gift, and the cash is already earmarked to pay some bills and make "some much-needed home renovations," according to Lottery officials.
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