Dad with family lottery tradition wins big in Maryland. ‘Numbers kept on coming’

A dad in Maryland scored big with a scratch-off after following a family tradition, officials said.

Alonzo Butler of Cumberland has had a years-long family tradition of playing scratch-offs, according to an Aug. 3 news release by the Maryland Lottery.

After years of playing and winning, the 30-year-old won the top prize of $100,000 with the Money Bag Multiplier game, lotto officials said.

“My family has some players — me, my mom and my grandma,” the winner said.

Butler told lottery officials his grandma had won $50,000 in the past and recently he’d won $10,000 on two separate occasions.

At first, he wasn’t going to buy the scratch-off ticket but ended up changing his mind in the store, the release said.

After scratching off part of the ticket and feeling “pretty good,” he kept scratching and “the matching numbers kept on coming,” the release said.

He matched a number that won him $50,000 and initially thought the other matching number landed him an additional $100, officials said.

He later realized the winnings were $100 multiplied by 50, officials said. After matching a number for the prize of $1,000 multiplied by 20 and $500 multiplied by 50, he had reached the grand prize of $50,000.

The dad “went from feeling pretty good to being excited almost beyond control,” the release said. He even needed to ice his back to calm down.

Butler plans to invest the money to ensure the future of his 3-year-old and 6-year-old kids, the release said.

Cumberland is about 140 miles northwest of Baltimore.

This story was originally published August 3, 2023 at 11:42 AM with the headline "Dad with family lottery tradition wins big in Maryland. ‘Numbers kept on coming’."