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When "Ping Pong Champ," a self-described Lottery regular, realized she had two winning tickets, one for $3, and one worth $1,000,000, she says that she had an immediate plan.
The woman opted to cash out the $3 winning ticket for a $2 Mega Millions ticket for the next drawing, plus a $1 scratcher, while stashing the $1 million ticket in a safe place until she could make it down to Lottery Headquarters, officials said on Tuesday.
She said that she went about her day, got gas, and left with the $1 million ticket burning a hole in her pocket.
“Ping Pong Champ” plays the Maryland Lottery “all the time,” she said, but has no loyalty to any single game. "Sometimes, it’s scratch-offs. Sometimes, it’s jackpot games like Mega Millions and Powerball."
"I play what I want."
On Friday, June 1, Mega Millions was her game of choice, and it worked out pretty well when she picked up the tickets for the June 6 drawing while gassing up at Aspen Hill Citgo in Silver Spring, where she later returned to check her tickets for a win.
She said that she scanned one ticket and saw the $3 win, and the second-tier winning ticket showed her zeroes, so she figured it was a $1,000 prize.
Turns out, there were three more zeroes attached to that, and she cashed in the $3 ticket and walked away from the clerk without much fanfare.
With her newfound cash - which the Adelphi resident says she has told very few people about - she plans to buy a new townhouse with her husband, though they haven't decided where, only saying that the DC suburb is very crowded.
There are also no plans to retire, or plans to stop playing Lottery games.
“Maybe if I win again, I’ll retire,” she said, adding, “Every time I play, I say, ‘Maybe this will be the big one.’”
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