A bus driver from Washington, D.C., who won $5 million from a scratch-off card, has revealed the first thing he plans to do with the prize money.
Maurice Williams, 59, was in for a shock of a lifetime when he sat in his car outside a 7-Eleven convenience store to play the $5,000,000 LUXE scratch-off game.
“I didn’t notice I had a matching number at first, until I scanned it,” he said in an article published by the Maryland Lottery last week. “It’s crazy because the matching number was 59 and I just turned 59 the other day.”
While some may think of going on a shopping spree or driving that Ferrari they’ve secretly been eyeing, Williams had something else, or rather someone else, in mind after learning that he had won the game’s top prize.
Williams said he’d use his winnings to buy his mother a house and that he’ll figure out what to do with the rest of the money later.
This was not the first time Williams bought a card from the $5,000,000 LUXE scratch-off game, which launched in February.
Before Williams bought the winning card, he had stopped into the 7-Eleven in Hyattsville, Maryland, on his way to work to cash in a $50 prize from the scratch-off game. He bought the $5 million ticket with the winnings from his previous prize.
“I just sat there stuck, I mean, I couldn’t believe it,” Williams said of his huge win.
Williams called up his mother to celebrate his massive winnings and then went to work. He had set up an appointment with the lottery to claim his prize.
“I tossed and turned all night,” he said at the Maryland Lottery’s Claim Center. “I still didn’t believe it until I came here.”
Williams was the first player to win one of the three $5 million prizes for the scratch-off game, meaning there are still two top prizes out there.
If you or someone you know is struggling with a gambling addiction, call the National Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-MY-RESET.
