Loyal Cash4Life player scores big win after years of play
Getting on the road every day to drive across the Maryland state line to buy a Cash4Life ticket is no hardship for “Pap Paw” of Pennsylvania. The retired trucker has followed his Cash4Life routine for more than a decade, also playing Multi-Match, Mega Millions and Powerball when the jackpots are large and rolling.
“I’ve only missed playing maybe two or three days in all those years,” said the anonymous winner of a $1,000-a-week-for-life prize in the Cash4Life game. He won $800 on the game six or eight years ago and kept on buying quick-pick tickets. “I didn’t give up,” noted the grandfather of a dozen and father of three.
This is the eighth second-tier Cash4Life prize won in Maryland since the state began offering the game in 2016. Nationwide, since the game began in June 2014, Cash4Life has had 68 top-prize winners of $1,000 a day for life and 183 second-tier winners.
On Sept. 10, the Maryland native drove across the Maryland-Pennsylvania state line to buy a quick-pick ticket for the Sept. 11 drawing. He stopped at Silo Hill Sunoco, which is located at 110 Silo Hill Road in Emmitsburg. The Franklin County man bought a $4 ticket and went on his way. After the drawing, “Pap Paw” looked at his ticket and spotted a match with five of the winning numbers. All that was missing for him to hit the $1,000-a-day-for-life prize was the Cash Ball!
The 79-year-old asked a son to come check the ticket. “I had already checked it five times,” said “Pap Paw.” His son confirmed that it appeared to have a big prize so off the winner went to Lottery retailers in Frederick to verify the size of his new fortune. The winner went into one establishment and waited until all of the other customers left before seeking the clerk’s help. When she scanned the ticket, “her eyes got really big,” he recalled.
The widower said he plans to use his Cash4Life prize to upgrade his old flip phone that lacks Internet access, will enjoy some fishing and save the rest of the windfall for the future. “I want to keep the money in the family,” he said, and his son added, “We want him to enjoy it!”
The lucky Lottery retailer that sold the winning ticket also benefits. The Frederick County business will receive a $2,500 bonus from the Lottery for selling the second-tier winning Cash4Life ticket.
