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'Ghost of Nanticoke' scares their way to big Pick 5 win in Maryland

Be careful, Maryland Lottery retailers!

The “Ghost of Nanticoke” with his $50,000 Maryland Lottery Pick 5 check.
The “Ghost of Nanticoke” with his $50,000 Maryland Lottery Pick 5 check. Photograph credit to the Maryland Lottery.
Todd Betzold

A recent winner in the Maryland Lottery plans on “haunting” lottery retailers in hopes of winning an even bigger prize!

The ghostly winner

The Maryland Lottery recently announced that a Pick 5 prize winner has claimed $50,000 in winnings at the Lottery headquarters. The Easter Shore winner, who wished to remain anonymous, claimed the prize as the “Ghost of Nanticoke.”

When claiming the prize, the lucky winner told Maryland Lottery officials they had been playing Lottery games for less than a year. However, he said he won his prize using a strategic approach to the Pick 5 game.

The “Ghost of Nanticoke” got his start playing games after talking with his brother, who shared his own winning experiences. Then he started researching the different games with favorable odds and landed on Pick 5, in which the odds of winning $50,000 on a $1 straight bet are around 1 in 100,000. The Ghost then picked numbers that were of personal significance to him.

The Ghost's big day

The big day finally came for the Ghost of Nanticoke, which happened to be June 14. The winner bought tickets for both the midday and evening Pick 5 drawings that day.

When the day was done, the Ghost secured three wins! He won a small amount in the midday drawing, which was 2-5-1-8-6. Then, in the evening drawing, which was 9-0-0-1-6, he won another smaller amount and $50,000 on a $1 straight bet ticket and a box combination.

With his winnings, the winner said he plans to take a well-deserved vacation and contribute generously to his children's savings accounts. Will the Ghost continue to play lottery games? He told Maryland Lottery officials that, of course, he would, and he hoped to scare up another big lottery prize in the future.

The $50,000 winning ticket was purchased at Crown Salisbury, located at 28768 Ocean Gateway in Salisbury. For selling the winning ticket, they will receive a $500 bonus from the Maryland Lottery.

'This can't be real'

Another lucky winner recently headed to the Lottery headquarters to claim their winnings. “Yeyo” was having a slow day at work, so she decided to play some scratch-off tickets. That slow day quickly turned into a heart-racing winning day after she scratched a $150,000 top prize!

The grocery store employee from Eastern Shore, who used the nickname “Yeyo” when claiming her prize, told officials she is an occasional player but decided to buy some scratchers on a slow work day. The first two weren't winners, so she decided to buy one more, and that $150,000 Extreme was a top-prize winning ticket!

Yeyo said she thought she had a $50 winner, so she scanned it, and it read $150,000. She thought:

This can't be real.

She had a coworker double-check the ticket and confirmed that Yeyo had won the $150,000 top prize!

Yeyo then called her husband, who told Maryland Lottery officials:

It was so hard to believe that she won, because I am the one who plays. I had to see it for myself, so I immediately drove to her work.

She said she still hasn't decided what to do with her winnings yet, but said she plans on putting it into her savings for now.

Yeyo bought the winning ticket from Union Latina, located at 810 Beaglin Park Drive in Salisbury. For selling the winning ticket, the retailer will receive a $1,000 bonus from the Maryland Lottery.

Enjoy playing the lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.

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