Twice as lucky: Man’s mistake leads to bumper lottery win

A Maryland man benefited from a lapse in memory to win big not once, but twice in a U.S. lottery draw late last month.

A retiree who has publicly identified himself only as “Proud Granddad”, the man held two identical tickets that each scooped the second prize in the Powerball Double Play drawing on Wednesday, August 20. He claimed a total of $1 million - $500,000 for each ticket.

“An unbelievable moment”

In an interview for the website of Maryland Lottery, the agency that oversees the Powerball lottery in the Old Line State, “Proud Granddad” explained that he ended up playing twice because, in the days leading up to the draw, he realised he couldn’t remember whether he had bought a ticket.

To make sure he didn’t miss out on entering, he bought what turned out to be a second Powerball ticket on August 18, before going on a trip that meant he and his wife were out of state on August 20.

When the numbers on this second ticket came in during the Powerball Double Play draw, he knew he had not only scooped a huge cash prize - but might well have a duplicate winning ticket waiting for him at home.

So it proved: on his return, he found another ticket for the August 20 drawing, bought six days before he purchased the second. “Proud Granddad” had used the same combination of numbers, described by Maryland Lottery as “a series of family members’ birth years”.

“To look [my wife] in the eye and say I had a $500,000 win was good. It was really good to say I had a million!” he told Maryland Lottery. “It’s truly an unbelievable moment!”

What is Powerball Double Play?

Double Play is an extra lottery that takes place 30 minutes after each main Powerball drawing. It is available in 24 of the 45 states, districts and territories that participate in Powerball.

While the main Powerball draw costs $2 to play, gamblers in Double Play jurisdictions can pay an additional $1 to enter their chosen Powerball numbers into the second draw.

The cash prizes on offer in Double Play are significantly smaller than in the regular Powerball draw. In the latter, the latest roll-over jackpot has reached a staggering $1.7 billion; in Double Play, the maximum prize is $10 million.

In both Powerball and Powerball Double Play, participants are tasked with correctly guessing five numbers between 1 and 69, plus a Powerball number between 1 and 26.

“Proud Granddad” earned his twin $500,000 windfall in the Double Play draw by getting every number right except the Powerball. According to the lottery’s official website, players have a 1 in 11,688,053.52 chance of winning the second-tier prize in both the main and Double Play drawings.

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