Sukhwinder Singh didn’t believe the news when he got a call at 6am Wednesday, telling him he sold the winning Mega Millions ticket. “I thought it was somebody joking with me,” said the Dash In convenience store owner,“This is the first time somebody hit the lottery in my store, so I’m so excited and so happy to see who hit the lottery”. Singh sold the only winning ticket from his convenience store, located on Quarterfield Road in Severn, Maryland.
Singh has a lot to be happy about because he also wins – a $100 000 commission goes to the store that sells the ticket. “I will go for vacation. Maybe go to Canada or somewhere else, so we’ll see what happens.” he said to a local news reporter.
According to the Maryland Lottery, the Mega Millions winner hand-picked the numbers 0 7-10-30-37-53, Mega Ball: 1. Still, the winning ticket-holder has yet to come forward.
The winner has 182 days to claim the prize at the Lottery Claim Center, located at Washington Blvd. in Baltimore. If and when that happens, he or she will receive a $189 million jackpot. The winner could also claim a cash payout of $130 million but would be left with $86 million after taxes. The state of Maryland also wins big, collecting $11.3 million in tax revenue from the prize money.
To win the lottery, you have to be incredibly lucky, considering the odds are 175.7 million to one. So far this year, there have been two winners – in February, a Mount Airy woman walked away with a $26 million jackpot.
As of Wednesday, the Mega Millions was back at $12 million, and the Powerball was at $70 million. Who will be Maryland’s next lucky lottery winner?