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What would you do if you found out you won $5 million in the lottery? For Maurice Williams, a school bus driver in the Washington, D.C., area, the answer was simple. He was doing his job.
Williams was on his way to work when he stopped at a 7-Eleven in Hyattsville, Maryland, to cash in a $50 prize he had previously won on the same game, the $5 million LUXE game. According to the Maryland Lottery, he used his winnings to buy another ticket and sat in his car playing, barely noticing the fact that he had won the $5 million prize.
“At first I didn’t realize there was a matching number until I scanned it,” Williams told the Maryland Lottery. “It’s strange because my reference number was 59 and I just turned 59 the other day.”
When Williams scanned his ticket, it showed he had won the game’s top prize.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Maurice told the Maryland Lottery. “I had to get my head right.”
Williams called his mother, and after she shared his excitement and reassured him that everything would be okay, he put away his ticket and got to work. During a break, he called the Maryland Lottery and arranged to collect his winnings.
What will Williams do with his winnings?
Williams told the Maryland Lottery there was one thing he definitely wanted to do with his winnings: buy his mother a house.
He said he plans to save the rest and wait to make financial decisions until he has time to think them through.
What is the $5,000,000 LUXE Scratch-Off Game?
According to the Maryland Lottery, the $5 million LUXE Scratch-Off began in February with three top prizes worth $5 million, and Williams won the first one, meaning two more are still up for grabs.
There are also nine $200,000 prizes, 10 $50,000 prizes, and hundreds of thousands of other prizes ranging from $50 to $10,000.
Gabe Hauari is USA TODAY’s national trends news reporter. You can follow him at X @gabehauari Or email Gdhauari@gannett.com.
