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#4279 JPM

Annual Ocean City Vacation Pays Off for Long-time Friends
Group of Seven Claims $250,000 Mega Millions Ticket
 

(Baltimore) – Representatives from a group of friends who have vacationed together in Ocean City for 25 years visited the Lottery’s claim center today to claim a $250,000 Mega Millions prize.  The winners, who live in Pennsylvania and Delaware, always have fun together at the beach but this year’s holiday was by far the best.

“We were hanging out on the beach when I remembered that Mega Millions had the $336 million jackpot,” Sophia Roth told lottery officials.  “We all threw money in the pot and I walked to a nearby store to get the tickets.”  A couple of days later and just before checking-out of the hotel to head home, Sophia returned to that store to see how they’d fared.  To her great surprise, one of the tickets matched all the winning numbers except one.  Even after the attendant checked and re-checked the winning numbers with her, she didn’t really believe that they’d won.

“I ran as fast as I could back to the hotel to tell everyone.  I must have been quite a sight to people driving down Coastal Highway,” Sophia joked.  She spent the day convincing the disbelievers in the group and they ended up checking back into the hotel to celebrate their good fortune.

The big win comes at a good time for several members of the group, three of whom were recently laid-off.  The lucky seven plan to continue vacationing together in Ocean City and to continue playing Mega Millions.       

The winning ticket was purchased at the Seaside Super Thrift, 4301 Coastal Hwy. in Ocean City.

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