Former Baltimore City police officer Kenneth Matthew of Laurel won $100,000 in part because he is not a fan of the funk music variant known as go-go.
Former police officer putting winnings toward daughter’s college costs
He’s not a fan of go-go music, despite the genre being rooted in Maryland and the District of Columbia, but that’s what led Kenneth Matthew of Laurel to win $100,000 on a Maryland Lottery scratch-off.
His journey to a win begins with a clerk at Central Exxon in Capitol Heights. The employee loves go-go’s rhythms and call-response stylings made popular in the 1970s by Chuck Brown, a band leader, guitarist and singer from Washington, D.C.
Whenever Kenneth went into Central Exxon to buy Lottery tickets, he would hear a soundtrack of go-go music, resulting in some good-natured discussions with the clerk.
Kenneth is mainly a fan of the $5 Ravens X5 instant ticket, but he had been pondering the purchase of the $30 $100,000 Ca$h scratch-off. The game started with 65 top prizes at the $100,000 level. The number of big prizes made the scratch-off attractive, but for the price of one $30 instant ticket he could also buy six $5 tickets.
Kenneth and the clerk talked about the two scratch-offs and their relative merits. The Laurel man recalls the clerk saying of the $30 game, “When you come in and buy that ticket, I’ll turn the go-go music off.” That little bit of extra motivation was all it took. Kenneth bought the $100,000 Ca$h scratch-off.
“It’s the first time I played that card,” he said on Nov. 1 while claiming his windfall.
The loyal player scratched the instant ticket, looked it over and thought it was a winner, so he scanned it using the Lottery app on his smartphone. He glanced at the screen quickly and thought he won $1,000. That meant he would need to take it to an expanded cashing capacity location to collect the prize.
Later, he told a friend about the lucky instant ticket. She gave it a quick once over and realized its true value. “She said, ‘You know you won more than that,’” Kenneth recalls. The realization that the instant ticket was worth 100 times what he thought left him slack-jawed.
“It’s a blessing. It’s a blessing,” the former Baltimore City police officer said, grinning broadly after claiming the prize. A fan of Bonus Match 5 and scratch-offs, Kenneth has had occasional small wins but “not like this. My biggest win prior to this was $1,000.”
His story of winning may have more twists than a go-go tune, but his plan for the money is simple: helping his daughter pay for her college education.
Also benefiting from selling the $100,000 top-prize winning scratch-off is Central Exxon. The business at 6400 Central Avenue secures a Lottery bonus of $1,000, equal to 1% of the prize.
The $100,000 Ca$h game has been available since September and Kenneth’s big win is only the third of the game’s 65 top prizes claimed. The game also has 37 $5,000 prizes and others ranging from $30 to $500.
