We love a great Maryland Lottery big winner story and Executive Director John Martin delivered a Western Maryland tale of triumph from a winning man who almost gave it all away.
Nestor Aparicio and John Martin discussed the Maryland Lottery’s upcoming football season promotions, including the Raven scratch-offs and a trip to Charlotte, North Carolina, for three winners. The Mega Millions jackpot is over $740 million, Powerball is at $600 million, and the Multi-Match game has a $2 million jackpot. They also highlighted the Home Run Riches promotion, which has awarded over $139,000 in prizes. A $500,000 winner from Dundalk was featured, and Nestor shared personal anecdotes about lottery experiences and the Maryland Crab Cake Tour.
Maryland Crab Cake Tour and Raven Scratch-Off Season
- Nestor Aparicio introduces the Maryland Crab Cake Tour, mentioning stops at Pizza John’s in Essex and Costas in Timonium.
- Nestor discusses the Raven scratch-offs, including the Kiss Face Purple Bird design, and mentions the upcoming celebration at Acosta’s Intimonium.
- John Martin, the executive director of the Maryland Lottery, joins the conversation, and Nestor jokes about John’s baseball season activities.
- John explains the new Raven scratch-off promotion, highlighting the big jackpots and second chance prizes available.
Premier Relationship Between Maryland Lottery and Ravens
- John Martin emphasizes the unique relationship between the Maryland Lottery and the Baltimore Ravens, calling it one of the premier lottery-NFL franchise relationships in the country.
- John mentions the benefits for players, including the chance to win cash money and second chance prizes.
- Nestor and John discuss the details of the big trip to Charlotte, North Carolina, including the itinerary and the excitement around the event.
- John explains the criteria for winning the trip, including entering non-winning Ravens scratch-off tickets by September 20.
Big Jackpots and Powerball Expansion
- Nestor and John discuss the current big jackpots, including the Mega Millions, Powerball, and the Maryland-based Multi-Match game.
- John highlights the total jackpots available, which add up to over $1.3 billion, and encourages responsible play.
- John announces the expansion of Powerball sales to the United Kingdom, allowing people in the UK to purchase Powerball tickets in pounds.
- Nestor humorously speculates about the tax implications for British musicians like Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney if they win the Powerball jackpot.
Multi-Match Game and Social Play
- John Martin explains the Multi-Match game, a lotto-style game played with 18 numbers and three lines of six.
- Nestor shares a personal anecdote about playing Keno with his wife during a soccer game, highlighting the social aspect of the game.
- John describes how Multi-Match can be enjoyed in a social environment, with players often engaging in friendly competition.
- Nestor reminisces about the early days of Keno and its popularity in bars and social settings.
Home Run Riches and Walk-Off Winnings
- Nestor and John discuss the Home Run Riches promotion, which rewards players with cash for home runs and grand slams hit by the Orioles.
- John mentions the Walk-Off Winnings fast play game, which has a progressive jackpot currently over $60,000.
- John explains the VIP contestant program, where players can attend a game at the ballpark and have a chance to win escalated prize winnings.
- Nestor shares his excitement about the promotion and the potential for big wins during the baseball season.
Dundalk Big Winners
- John Martin shares a story about a man from Cumberland who almost threw away a $50,000 winning ticket to pay off a $40 debt.
- Nestor humorously suggests that the wife should have claimed the $40 as well.
- John highlights the importance of keeping lottery tickets and the role of women in making financial decisions.
- Nestor emphasizes the availability of winner stories on the Maryland Lottery website and encourages listeners to check for updates.
Maryland Lottery Rewards and Final Thoughts
- Nestor mentions the Maryland Lottery Rewards app, which allows players to scan and enter tickets for second chance prizes.
- John and Nestor discuss the upcoming Maryland Crab Cake Tour events, including stops at Pizza John’s and Costas.
- Nestor shares a personal story about winning a Maryland Lottery ticket in 1988 and cashing it at East Point Liquors.
- The conversation concludes with Nestor expressing excitement for the upcoming football season and the various promotions and events associated with the Maryland Lottery.
Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are WNST AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore Posit, positively doing the Maryland Crab Cake Tour twice this week on Friday. We’re going to be at Pizza John’s in Essex, and I am getting a crab cake there, even though people say get the pizza, you know, get the manicotti. I’ve done all that. I even had a milkshake there a couple weeks ago. We will be giving away Raven scratch-offs. These are the Maryland treasures. I’m about to update those with my favorite Kiss Face Purple Bird. It is officially Raven scratch-off season around here. We’ll also be celebrating Acosta’s Intimonium next Thursday. All brought to you by the Maryland Lottery in conjunction with GBMC and our partners at Farnet and Dermer-they are the comfort guys trying to keep everybody comfortable, especially if we had all that smoke going on. We talked about filters and all that good stuff on the air. Been a little while since we’ve had this guy on. He’s the executive director of all things Maryland lottery and gaming, and you know, I kid around here in baseball season. I’ve gone to the All-Star game. I’ve hung out next to Guardians and next to all sorts of Orioles and Yankees and Dodgers and Tigers, oh my, and all of that. Since I left you, but I would love to say that you were like out trying to pay off all of these home run riches grand slams. Truth is, you were out like concocting this Ravens scratch off season. We have a whole new thing we’re doing now, as well as some really big jackpots, man. How you been? Happy summer to you.
John Martin 1:23
Back at you. We we concoct a lot of things here, so that’s what we do. We’re in the concoction business.
Nestor Aparicio 1:29
Well, we got concoctions of a new Raven scratch off here that I I don’t have them. I’m getting them literally today as we speak. Roz is working it up with whatever you do in the Wonka machine down there to make sure I have the purple ones. This is the biggest promotion you do every year, though, right? Like we can talk football, Lamar, and we’ll do all that. And I can kid you about the Browns or get Seth on about the Steelers or whomever. I’ll find a Bengals fan around or somewhere. But football season’s great. But from your perspective, and I guess going on two decades, this has been this is a really cool promotion. It doesn’t happen everywhere. Not every lottery. Not every team. And it’s something that you guys are proud of. And more than that, people grab them from me, John. Once I get a hold of them next week, they’re going to want them.
8
John Martin 2:10
You know, it is so much fun every year. Some years more funner than others, as you know. But I saw the ball
Nestor Aparicio 2:17
sale right next year.
John Martin 2:19
Right. We we enjoy that relationship, and it is absolutely one of the premier relationships between a lottery and an NFL franchise around the country. So, I I welcome anyone to challenge that, and and the the beneficiaries really are the players. We have a great program, and not only can you win a lot of cash money on the scratch off ticket, it’s those second chance prizes that really appeal to people. And please go to mdlottery.com, where you’ll see all the details on this year’s lineup. Every year we try to tweak, we improve upon it. This year we have something new in addition to our season tickets for 20 years, our away trip, and I believe you did finally get it because you guessed all the teams on the away schedule, but well, I knew
Nestor Aparicio 3:02
wasn’t Brazil. Like, let’s start with that. So I went backwards through holidays and this and that, and you know, give me give a little timpani. Okay, go ahead, give the big trip.
John Martin 3:14
The trip is to Charlotte, North Carolina,
Nestor Aparicio 3:17
which is, by the way, underrated town. Last couple.
Speaker 1 3:21
Charlotte’s
8Nestor Aparicio 3:22
one of those places I’ve been going all my life. I pulled in there on a bus, 1976 with my mom because she’s from Abbeville, South Carolina. Pulled in a little, and Charlotte was where the Orioles double A team played. So Eddie Murray, you can look it up, was playing in Charlotte at that time. So that’s all I knew about Charlotte, and you know, on a Rand McNally map, and I pulled in, and I thought, this isn’t much as Charlotte, you know. And that now, when I go to Charlotte, like it is a grown-up place. If you haven’t said
John Martin 3:51
70-670-six,
Nestor Aparicio 3:53
yes, on a bus. So 50
John Martin 3:54
years ago.
Nestor Aparicio 3:57
Yeah, I guess it has been 50 years, haven’t you? So yeah, I mean, Charlotte’s
John Martin 4:00
grown up a little bit in 50 years. It is.
Nestor Aparicio 4:01
I’m telling you, dude. Charlotte’s a great place. One of my former one of my former employees, Ryan Shell, worked for the radio station in Charlotte. I’m most proudest. I had an intern in the late ’90s who went on to be a star in Charlotte sports radio. Who literally was a kid from Timonium who interned for me, and he became the biggest afternoon star in Charlotte. So, like, I’ve got a soft spot for Charlotte, even though they took our football team back in today. But Paul Tagliabue’s gone; he’s left. We have our team. We have, we’ve had two parades still waiting for that first parade. So, I’m taking my cheap shots at Charlotte, but it’s this gonna be nice trip, and I know they’re going to do it up right down there, and I bet there’s going to be some sort of Carolina barbecue involved. If I’m if I’m guessing,
8John Martin 4:45
oh, that would be wonderful, wouldn’t it? There are three winners, and again, all the details at mdlottery.com when you look at the second chance prices. Three winners will be awarded. Please enter in your non-winning Ravens scratch-off tickets, either the $2 or the $10 for entries. And enter by september 20 with your chance to win that away trip with the team, and that’s the fun part of it. One pair of tickets to that 1120-two November 20-second game versus the Panthers in Charlotte
Nestor Aparicio 5:14
Thanksgiving week. That you’ll be very thankful. Be a Thanksgiving kickoff for you. Those are the big
John Martin 5:19
round trip travel on the team chartered plane, hotel accommodations, reception with a player meet and greet, plus a few shekels of spending money, $1,000 in cash. So a lot of fun. I’ve been on that trip not necessarily as the winner, but as a sponsor of the of the the program, and it’s a lot of fun. I got a real nice
Nestor Aparicio 5:40
coffee shop in downtown Charlotte for you too. If you you hit me up on that, John Martin is here. He’s the executive director of all things Maryland Lottery and Gaming. Ravens season is here. Luke will be out on the fields next week. If you want the breaking news, it always happens first on the WNSD Tech Service. All that brought to you by Cole Roofing and Gordian Energy. I’m doing the crab cake tour. We’re just like rolling into this, but when there’s six and $700 million and my wife pulls up in front of supermarket, rofo, wherever she happens to be, and sees five, six, $700 million I got to talk jackpots with you as well because we’ll be doing Raven season here for a while, but we don’t get to this rarefied air of getting up on three quarters of a billion dollars. This is fun and big, big jackpots. And it’s been, it’s been months since you and I have talked about big, big jackpots like this.
John Martin 6:28
This is this is really fun. Again, there are three jackpots that we closely monitor here at Maryland Lottery. Of course, the Mega Millions jackpot is upwards on its own three quarters of a billion dollars as we speak. It’s over $740 million The Powerball jackpot is over or is at $600 million and our very own little multi-match little engine that could is over $2 million So you add that all up, and I have in preparation, it’s over 1.3 billion dollars in jackpots up for grabs this weekend, and while that’s very appealing, please, please play responsibly. It takes one ticket to win, but please take a look, have some fun, maybe do an office pool. That’s always a way to get multiple people involved and excited about it. And you know what’s also exciting? I don’t know if you’re aware of this, Nestor. We’ve expanded our Powerball reach outside the United States.
Nestor Aparicio 7:26
What? This is the
John Martin 7:27
first time. Well, I’m going to tell you. For the first time this week, we reached an agreement with the United Kingdom, so people in jolly old England can now purchase a Powerball ticket
8Nestor Aparicio 7:41
in pounds,
John Martin 7:43
in pounds on that side of the pond, and had as much fun as we have right here in watching those jackpots grow and and dreaming about what a large win would be. I believe, and here’s my conversion scale is a little wacky here, so bear with me. I believe they are advertising the jackpot in pounds in the UK at over 300 million pounds, which gets a lot of attention. That’s
Nestor Aparicio 8:08
heavy.
John Martin 8:08
That is that is heavy over there.
Nestor Aparicio 8:11
You know what I’m thinking about, and this is just my twisted rock and roll mind. And you know, you have no idea where I’m going, but
John Martin 8:18
I never do, Nestor.
Nestor Aparicio 8:20
Nor does my audience, but I’m thinking like, didn’t Mick Jagger and a whole bunch of them, McCartney, like not want to pay the taxes to be it? Like, is it? Wouldn’t it be a sizable, a sizeable, taxable boo? You know, on the other side of listening all this World Cup the last couple weeks, but like, I’m thinking they pay more taxes. That’s all I’m saying. I’ll I’ll ask Raskin about it. He’ll tell me about Delaware and Marylanders, but I’m thinking like whole different tax scenario over there across the pond. From what my understanding
8John Martin 8:48
is, I would my expertise stops and mr. Raskin’s expertise begins at that line. All right, there he is.
Nestor Aparicio 8:53
All right, John Martin is here. Don’t cross that line. I want to go backwards because you like you start segwaying me right out of stuff that I’m I need to know about multi-match. You’re like a little engine that could multi-match. Tell me about multi-match. We never get a chance to talk about multi-match, and and you’re you’re right. Right on the front empty lottery, there’s Mega Millions, Powerball, 700 million, and then it is it’s our sort of jackpot, right? It’s our Mega Million Powerball that’s our state game.
John Martin 9:17
Well, you know, it is a lot of fun because again, it is something that we’ve had the chance to cultivate over the years, and if you’re not familiar with it, it is a lotto style game. So for $2 you get to play 18 numbers, three lines of six, which is what you traditionally see on a Powerball American. Yeah, 30-six
Nestor Aparicio 9:34
is my favorite number. You just said three lines of six, and you said 18, and 18 times two is 30-six. This might be my game. I’m just saying, it is okay.
John Martin 9:43
You’re you you please show your work on all math.
Nestor Aparicio 9:46
I’m doing Miss Eady’s numbers, is what I’m doing. You know, that’s my favorite number.
John Martin 9:50
So, but as numbers are drawn, not only are you looking for that jackpot win on any of those three lines, but then you get to play all of those because sometimes, as you could appreciate. Numbers are doubled up. They may appear in one line, and that same number may appear in another line. So if that number is drawn, you get to count that twice. So there’s a whole prize structure based on how many of the 18 numbers that you may win. So for instance, if you get 10 of the 18, you win $2,000, and then prize tiers cascade down from that, so it is fun. A little different way of playing a lotto style game. People enjoy it. It is Maryland based. It is unique here to the state of Maryland. Other states may have variations on the theme, but we have multi match, and the jackpot today has grown to over $2 million
8Nestor Aparicio 10:38
John, I got to tell you that my lottery experience through the week is, you know, I give out Maryland Treasures tickets, and I’ve done this, and I haven’t been to the boardwalk yet, and I’m hoping to get there at some point in August, not for Mako, but around, and go across the bridge and all that stuff. I walked into Costas and Timonium with my wife at like 2:52, right before the final on Sunday. We went to watch the World Cup final in Timonium, and she looked to the left, and people were playing Keno, and she looked to the right, and it’s an OTB too. So there’s a lot of horse racing going on. Guys were screaming at the television over in the corner. They had six or seven guys had some horses going on, but she looked. She said, “Keno, and the TVs had Keno on because we had World Cup, and the Orioles were beating the snot out of the Astros again, sweeping them before things went awry in Fenway. And she said to me, “Kino, do you know how to play? And I’m like, “Yeah, it’s like easy and it’s fun. Now we did not play. I’ll say this, but she was really she likes playing games. And I don’t know if you know this, but most Americans think soccer is boring. Don’t tell anybody now that it’s over with. But it does move a little slower, and it lends itself to a parlor game, shall we say, in a location like like Timonium. Did I get? Is it? It is a parlor game, right? Did I get it right?
John Martin 11:55
I would call it that. Okay, fair
Nestor Aparicio 11:57
enough. Let’s talk a little bit about that because I think there is an experience for my wife was interested in it and said I said put two bucks up and circle some numbers let’s have you know you’ll figure it out real quick and it’s a fun game to play in that sort of an environment but when I was there people were playing it during the soccer game and it got my wife to like question about it and I said I’m going to ask John about that this week so there you go there’s my little party piece for you. It
John Martin 12:22
is an ideal social game to be played with. A lot of times, when I go out in other jurisdictions where I’m allowed to play, and we go out with a couple for dinner, and it’s nice to know if you get into a place like that where there’s a lot going on that has a keynote option, you sit around there. You have four people. You all pick a number between one and 80. You fill out your play slip. You want to play. You’re going to be there for an hour or two. You want to play 20 games. You put 20 bucks into it, a buck a game, and you kind of forget about it and enjoy your conversation. And then at the end, you check your ticket and find out if Kino paid your your bill or if you got to go into into your pocket, but you know it is a lot of fun. It it it can be engaging with with people who have certain numbers, you know, birthdays. I think it’s fun to watch
Nestor Aparicio 13:10
the screen because you guys have made it more of a moving game, you know, in that way. And I think, look, it was brought to me. I’ve been on the air this on august 3, this will be the 28th year of WNST. But I’ve been on here 35 years, even before NST existed. I want to say Kino came here in the mid 90s, and you can look it up. But I remember it because when the game came online, one of your predecessors, Buddy Rugo, met me over at the barn when I was doing live shows, and the barn was like an ideal at that time. It’s just now Dospiro was an ideal sort of a location where they had slips. The bartender would have some time for you. There’d be something going on. Games weren’t as prevalent in television, but it was like I remember introducing it and then going to Vegas soon thereafter and seeing that it was like really a thing, and it’s still a thing, but when you go places and see it, it’s lottery based. It’s on the up and up. It’s engaging. It’s fun. And I guess my wife got sort of sucked into a little bit during a two-hour soccer game when I was like, “Hey, a couple bucks, I can have some fun. I don’t think I say that enough about Kino.
John Martin 14:16
Well, none of us do, and I think we should all practice that. That’s homework. Say that today, but if you can, but you’re right. You go back 30 years, you know, back in in Las Vegas, and it was a a digital board from one, not even digital, an analog board from one. One like bingo,
Nestor Aparicio 14:33
right? Sort of was right. It was like watching
8John Martin 14:35
bingo. It was like watching hotel floors in an elevator. You know, it was it was not very exciting to see just things light up, but you’re right. More contemporary lotteries now look at ways to make it more engaging, have a little fun. It’s a fast-paced game, and that every three and a half, four minutes, there’s a fresh game that pops up. So it is meant to be enjoyed in a social environment with friends, have a little fun. But if for more details. If you’re not familiar with Kino, mdlottery.com will tell you all about
Nestor Aparicio 15:04
it. For some people, that’s more fun than a scratch off, or more fun than playing a lot. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Be
John Martin 15:09
open to it. John Martin is here.
Nestor Aparicio 15:11
He is trying to figure out ways, and at the end of the day, next month we’re going to get together and talk about where all this money goes and all that good stuff. Home Run Riches. I want to put a little bit because I don’t want to get away from that, because it’s still going on, still going on for three more months. We got a trading deadline. The order was one seven in a row last week. We’re not hitting as many home runs as I wanted us to hit, and we’re going under budget here, John Martin. I think somehow. Let’s hit some more bombs, huh?
John Martin 15:35
Well, you know what? It is. It is the luck of the draw, right? And and to date, as we speak, we have given away over 139, nearly 140 $1,000 in Home Run Riches payoffs. That’s $500 for every home run hit, $5,000 for every Grand Slam, and there have been five of those to date. And we sometimes forget that while we’re having all this fun with Home Run Riches, there’s a game called Home Run Riches Walk Off Winnings, a fast play game where the current progressive jackpot is up over $60,000 and recently we had, I believe, was $180,000 winner a couple weeks ago. So have some fun. It’s a $5 fast play game. Enjoy the game, and then enter in to be the contestant of the game, where you may be one of our special VIP contestant winners and attend one game at the ballpark and be our guest at the Truist Club and have a great evening, where you can enjoy food, beverage, great seats, and even escalated prize winnings, $2,000 instead of the $500 you normally get just for being a contestant of the game, and have a lot of fun. And we will be there to record that home run when it’s hit. And ideally, if it’s a grand slam like it was for Angela Ruffin several weeks ago, that’s pretty exciting stuff. Where in the moment you see a grand slam fly over the fence, and you realize you just won $5,000
Nestor Aparicio 17:01
and you’re sitting there having a shrimp cocktail while you’re doing it. The Chewers Club, I, you know, I had her on. She was fun. John Martin is here. All right. So last but not least, you haven’t been on in a couple of weeks, and I was, I told Seth when I left last week. I said, look, we had somebody in Dundalk hit a $500,000 prize.
John Martin 17:19
Yeah.
8Nestor Aparicio 17:20
So I’m gonna let John Martin do the honors on how to confuse me and come up with a name of some town I haven’t heard that’s really in Dundalk that I’m not aware of. But I will defer to you, John Martin, executive director of all things Maryland Lottery and Gaming. Let’s have some winner stories here from Dundalk outward. It it it
John Martin 17:38
it is a lot of fun. One of my favorite stories, and all these stories and more are at mdlottery.com. But here’s a here’s a guy that almost threw his ticket away. Not another
Nestor Aparicio 17:48
one. Well, in
John Martin 17:49
a little different manner, gentleman from Cumberland, and you will see his face on on our website by the name John right
Nestor Aparicio 17:55
there. All right, John
John Martin 17:56
Hamilton Jr. enjoys playing the lottery from time to time, and he bought a $50 $5 million lux scratch off, and folded up, put in his pocket, and then the next day he’s talking to a buddy of his, and he realizes he owes that buddy $40 so he pulls the ticket out of his pocket unscratched, and says, “Hey, you know what? This will pay off our $40 debt I owe you, and maybe maybe maybe you’ll get a few bucks, and his wife says, “Excuse me, excuse me, no, no, no, no. We’re going to keep the ticket. You can pay him the 40 bucks out of your pocket, but we’re going to keep the ticket. Don’t get ahead of me. They scratch the ticket. It is a $50,000 winner.
Nestor Aparicio 18:39
His wife should claim 40. Listen, mrs. Hamlin, 40-$9,960 Right, it’s
8John Martin 18:49
a 40 bucks. Right, right. That’s
Nestor Aparicio 18:52
a heck of a story.
John Martin 18:54
Yeah, yeah. I mean, talk about intervention, right? That is great, and and makes me want to go to
Nestor Aparicio 18:59
Cumberland, you know. And for those of
John Martin 19:01
us who are just poor slobs trying to get by in the day, we should all acknowledge the fact that the women do kind of control things.
Nestor Aparicio 19:09
Well, she was in charge of that for sure. We are in charge of all of the winner stories there at mdlottery.com. Don’t forget on the app now, and John, I’ll even talk to you about this on the air and off the air. Like I have the Mind Lottery Rewards. It’s a you you have to put your thing in. So when I it’s a problem for my scanner personally. When people say, “Hey, scan this for me, no bueno. But nonetheless, you can scan tickets. There’s download the new Mind Lottery Rewards app as well as MD Lottery and make sure that you’re entering these second chances because this is what the whole fun’s about. Once I get these Ravens tickets in my hand, the second chances are kind of where it’s at, and that’s how you get to go to Charlotte and eat barbecue with Roquan Smith. I am Nestor. He is John Martin. We are doing the Maryland Crab Cake Tour, beginning at Pizza John’s in Essex on Friday. John Allen will be joining me, and and John, before I let you go, I I do. Want to say this? There, I always tell you that story about how I played 936 box back in May of 1988 I won $80 I went to see Bruce Springsteen at the Spectrum on the on the the Tunnel of Love tour. I won that Maryland Lottery ticket. The only time I’ve really ever cashed a Maryland lottery ticket at East Point Liquors at the East Point Mall. We are closing East Point Mall. I was a mall rat. East East Point Liquors was closest to my house. There was a bank. There was a hard hardware fair and bracados where I got played all my Pac-Man and all my Donkey Kong. Ate all my pizza. And but East Point Liquors was there, and they’re shutting East Point Mall. It’s where Miss Eadie got her tickets, you know. You know where we ran the numbers over there. You had to go get her tickets. Be careful crossing Eastern Avenue. Don’t get in over there. That’s true, right?
John Martin 20:53
I’m sure it’s true in more than one. That’s not. I can’t do the
8Nestor Aparicio 20:57
Philly accent, but man, I can roll me some Dundalk. Don’t get me started on Essex. I’ll do that Friday. So we’re gathering at East Point Mall at 5o’clock on Friday to say goodbye to East Point Mall, just yards away from where I cash my my my my ticket at at East Point Liquors. So we’re doing that on Friday. Head to Costas, get some crabs this weekend to honor my mom. It’s her birthday. We will be at Costas and Timonium next Thursday. I got guests lined up. It’s going to be fun. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland Lottery and our friends at Farnan and Dermer and GBMC. It’s football season. I can’t believe it. I’m Nestor. We are WNST AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking. Baltimore positive.
