3/16/10 - The anonymous winner of a $250 000 Mega Millions lottery prize in Maryland was doubly lucky this week when he almost discarded the winning ticket.
The 49-year-old winner had previously bought his usual lottery tickets at a local store, checked them after the March 9 draw and mistakenly thought he had losing numbers, throwing the tickets into the trash can.
However, his brother subsequently told him that the same store had sold the winning Maryland Lottery ticket, and this prompted the man to conduct a frantic ninety minute search of his refuse to retrieve the tickets and have them re-checked at the store. Sure enough, he was the $250 000 winner!
"I called my wife to tell her we won the $250 000 winning Mega Millions prize, but I was looking for the ticket in the trash," he said, adding that he and his wife planned to pay off debts and enjoy a trip to Europe with their windfall.
