A retired U.S. Marine from Charles County claimed a $50,000 Bonus Match 5 prize on the Marine Corps’ 241st birthday.

Charles County man wins Bonus Match 5 top prize twice in two years

Nov. 10 is an especially joyous day for a retired U.S. Marine from Charles County. The date marks the Marine Corps’ 241st birthday and is also the day he arrived at Maryland Lottery headquarters in Baltimore to claim a $50,000 Bonus Match 5 prize.

The daily game is a lucky one for the Persian Gulf War veteran, who also won a $50,000 Bonus Match 5 top prize in September 2014. On that occasion, a set of Quick Pick numbers did the trick. This time, the former machine gunner bought a $6 ticket from Food Mart Citgo in Waldorf on which he picked a slate of nine lines of his own numbers. When one of those lines matched the first five numbers in the Nov. 9 drawing – 6, 18, 22, 23 and 29 – he was a $50,000 winner again.

“I pulled out the ticket and checked the numbers on my phone, and as soon as I saw them, I knew those were my numbers,” the lucky winner said. “I was shaking.”

His immediate reaction was to run to the house of his friend – a U.S. Army veteran. “We were like little kids outside celebrating,” the winner said. “And then, at one point, we were both, like, ‘Wait a minute, we should probably go in the house.’ ”

The excitement that night extended into the next morning – so much so that the winner forgot to bring the winning ticket when he left home for the trip to Lottery headquarters. “I got about 10 minutes from the house and realized it,” he said with a smile.

The winner has two sons and a daughter, who is in college. She is about to get a special gift, courtesy of her father’s Lottery luck.

“She just started college and I want to get her a car,” he said. The winner also plans to use his prize to donate money to support the volunteer work he does at area veterans’ hospitals.

His lucky retailer, Food Mart Citgo, is located at 11901 Business Park Drive. For selling a top-prize-winning Bonus Match 5 ticket, the Charles County store will receive a $500 bonus from the Lottery.