March 7 drawing yields hefty prize on ticket purchased in Bethesda
A chef in Washington, D.C. who has been cooking professionally since he was 17 got an extra special menu item in the March 7 Powerball drawing: a $150,000 third-tier win.
The 66-year-old lives in Virginia and works in the District, buying lottery tickets in those two locales and in Maryland. He focuses on the multistate jackpot games Powerball and Mega Millions.
“If you play small things,” he said, small prizes are the catch of the day. The loyal player has met with success in past drawings, saying he picked up a $150,000 win previously on a Washington, D.C. ticket.
This prize will help him professionally and personally. Like many restaurants, his business was financially impacted by the COVID-19 shutdown at a time when he was still recovering from a 2012 economic hit. He sold his house at one point to keep his restaurant going. The new Powerball windfall will help him operate in the black and put a down payment on a house to call his own.
He is familiar with the ups and downs of his profession, having started as a cook in South America working in nightclubs and dance clubs. In 1991, he was invited to move to the United States by a person who recognized his abilities as a restauranteur.
The Vienna resident bought his hot ticket at Talbert’s Ice & Beverage Service, 5234 River Road in Bethesda, paying an extra $1 for the Power Play option. The Power Play multiplier of x3 tripled his $50,000 windfall.
The Powerball jackpot keeps rolling and did so after his March 7 drawing, too. There is still time to get a ticket for the Saturday, March 12 drawing. The estimated jackpot is set at $112 million with a cash option of $76.8 million.
