Aberdeen pair discovered $2.1 million jackpot hit at 4 a.m.
A retired couple from the Aberdeen area is pondering doing more traveling after having won $2.1 million in the March 25 Multi-Match drawing.
“It’s the only game I play,” the husband said on March 28 after claiming the prize at Maryland Lottery headquarters in Baltimore. “It’s your best chance to win big.”
While the multistate jackpot games Powerball and Mega Millions have much larger prizes, the odds are long, being 1 in 292 million for Powerball and 1 in 302 million for Mega Millions. Multi-Match, a Maryland-only game, has a jackpot that starts at $500,000 and increases until someone matches all six winning numbers on a single line. The odds of winning on a single $2 ticket, although still long, are better at 1 in 2,032,151.7.
Finding out they had the winning ticket resulted in lost sleep. After the drawing, the husband checked their ticket but didn’t think they had a winner. Still, he had purchased the ticket at Klein’s ShopRite in Belcamp, and he knew that’s where the winning ticket was sold. Ultimately, he got up again at about 4 a.m. and rechecked the $10 ticket.
The wife recalls what happened next: “He said, ‘Will you be mad at me if I wake you up and tell you I won $2.1 million?’”
At that point, she was wide awake.
“He went back to sleep and I haven’t slept since,” she said. “It’s been a shock.”
Both remained in a state of near disbelief up until arriving at Lottery headquarters, so they kept checking the ticket to make sure they had read it correctly.
Although the two say they haven’t made any firm decisions about what to do with the prize, they already have some traveling planned and more travel is a strong possibility. Another option under discussion is purchasing a place somewhere warm where they can spend the winters.
The husband, who started playing Maryland Lottery games when it was established, said he “absolutely” plans to keep on playing. He has the playslip he uses to buy Multi-Match tickets at the ready and will continue trying his luck.
Klein’s ShopRite #551 shares in the players’ good fortune as the store, at 1321 Riverside Parkway, receives a bonus of $2,100, equal to 1/10th of 1% of the prize. This is the first Multi-Match jackpot win of 2024. The game’s jackpot was hit 10 times in 2023, six times in 2022 and five times in 2021.
