Aberdeen’s Liam Ferns, pictured with his girlfriend Danielle, plans to add his $50,000 scratch-off prize to his retirement fund.
Lucky guy plays $50,000 Cash scratch-off on a whim, wins top prize
If the dictionary had an entry defining a happy Lottery winner, Liam Ferns’ photo could appear right beside it. The 48-year-old Aberdeen man excitedly claimed a $50,000 top prize on the $50,000 Cash scratch-off this week and he could not stop smiling.
His decision to purchase a scratch-off game occurred suddenly. It was a hot Sunday, two weeks ago, when Liam decided to take his car for a wash. He was feeling a bit thirsty, so he stopped in the Abingdon Royal Farms store next door for a bottle of water. As he walked past the Lottery vending machine, something came over him.
“I just got a funny feeling,” said the big winner. “So, I went over to the machine, closed my eyes and randomly picked a ticket.” His finger was in front of the $50,000 Cash game, so he purchased it.
Liam waited to scratch the game until after the car wash and right before vacuuming the interior of his car. As he scratched off the surface of the $20 game, he got to the fourth row and saw that his matched number revealed a $50,000 prize underneath.
“I thought, ‘This has got to be wrong,’” he said. “But, when I scanned it back at the store, it said ‘See Lottery,’ so it had to be right.”
The Harford County player then headed home to show the lucky scratch-off to Danielle, his long-term girlfriend.
“We joke with each other all the time,” said Danielle, who accompanied Liam to Lottery headquarters in Baltimore to claim the prize. “I just knew the ticket was fake, but I was thrilled to find out it wasn’t.”
Liam claimed his $50,000 top prize this week. A shift leader at an oil refinery, he plans to retire in about 12 years and said the prize will go into savings to boost his retirement fund.
Sharing in Liam’s good luck is the store where he bought the winning instant ticket. Royal Farms #187, located at 10 Box Hill South Parkway in Abingdon, receives a $500 bonus from the Lottery. The bonus is equal to 1% of the prize and given for selling a $50,000 top-prize winning scratch-off.
The $50,000 Cash instant ticket went on sale in December 2022 with 160 $50,000 top prizes; there are 96 top prizes remaining along with many others that range from $20 to $5,000.
