SerpApi.Org
July 22 (UPI) -- A Maryland man almost gave away a scratch-off lottery ticket to settle a debt, but ended up winning $50,000 thanks to his wife's interference.
Cumberland resident John Hamilton Jr. told Maryland Lottery officials he bought his $5,000,000 LUXE scratch-off ticket for $50 from the Sheetz store on McMullen Highway in Cresaptown and put it in his back pocket, where he almost immediately forgot about it.
Hamilton said he ran into a friend the following day and, remembering the ticket in his pocket, offered it to the other man to settle a $40 debt.
"I told him it could be something on it," he said.
Hamilton said his wife stopped the exchange at the last possible moment.
"She put her hand between us and intercepted the play," he said. "That's when I thought I should play it and see if it really was a winner."
The ticket turned out to be a $50,000 winner.
"I was dumbfounded," the winner said.
Hamilton said his prize money will go toward taking his family on a Disney cruise and paying down his mortgage.
