Lots of big winners and four fun stories of new millionaires here in Maryland this week and Seth Elkin of The Maryland Lottery tells Nestor about the local original art search for next scratch-off promotion ticket design.
Nestor Aparicio and Seth Elkin from the Maryland Lottery discussed recent lottery wins and upcoming events. The Maryland Lottery had four prizes over $1 million in the last week, including a $1.8 million multi-match jackpot shared by winners in Silver Spring and Ocean City. A $2 million fast play jackpot was won in Indian Head, Charles County. The Maryland Treasures Art Contest was launched, inviting Maryland artists to submit original artwork for potential use on scratch-off tickets. The contest ends on August 15.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Maryland Lottery, scratch off tickets, $1 million winners, multi match jackpot, Maryland treasures art contest, original artwork, community connection, fiscal year 2025, fast play games, home run riches, Ravens tickets, second chance contest, Maryland crab cake tour, 27th anniversary.
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Seth Elkin
8
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, am 1570 tasks of Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, positively. Get you through the Fourth of July and the big holiday. I’m going to be down at the Heritage fair this weekend. I’d love to see some familiar faces. That’s me shaming all of my dundalks out there. I will also have Maryland lottery. Scratch off tickets. When I moved from Dundalk to Canton on Tuesday morning, we’re going to be at deepest squales For the first time ever, sausage and peppers and onions for breakfast. We’re doing a morning show, therefore it gets too hot. Pete cringe, stopping by Dan Rodricks, Joe Giordano, some soccer hooliganism, some some journalism and some Italian food down at Canton. I’m looking forward to that. Then on Thursday, we will be at Costas in Timonium. I’m wearing a State Fair shirt. It’s not the State Fair like where the lottery comes and Timonium, it cost. This is now where the State Fair is. State Fair is still in Catonsville, and we’re going to be over there in August doing our 27th anniversary. We’re gonna be doing my 27 favorite things to eat, like, legitimately, 27 favorite things to eat around the state during the month of August. And I’m actually gonna hook up with this guy face to face. Sometimes I’m in his office over at the Maryland lottery building, wiping my feet off on Pittsburgh Penguins floor mats, or staring at Terry Bradshaw or the Willie Stargell growth poster that he has. Seth Elkin is filling in this week for John Martin. He is all things communications for the Maryland lottery. And he, along with Roz and John Martin, provided Happy fourth to you. I hope you have some good plans. I mean, I’m just doing the barbecue thing and the heritage fair thing and some summer beverages, maybe some hot dogs and hamburgers. I mean, that feels Fourth of July, but you’re giving money away around there and all sorts of it’s a big week at the lottery, right?
Seth Elkin 01:49
Yeah, we, we really had a big week. You know, we love, we love giving away any prize amount. But, well, we had some big ones last week. We had, we in the in the last week here, we’ve had four prizes of a million dollars or more that we’ve had. So
Nestor Aparicio 02:04
hold on. Last year we went through this we’re like 36 $1 million or more winners,
Seth Elkin 02:09
8right? Actually, it was, I think it was 33 for fiscal year 20. Okay,
Nestor Aparicio 02:14
it’s 36 the year before. I mean, I remember there were numbers in the mid 30s for how many $1 Million Dollar winners there are from the Merrill that’s a lot. That’s a whole lot.
Seth Elkin 02:24
And we just we squeezed in one last one on June 30, which is the end of the fiscal year, we had that multi match jackpot that got hit. It was a $1.8 million multi match jackpot actually shared by two different people. There was a winning ticket that was sold in silver spring at a giant store. And then there was another winning ticket in that drawing that was sold at a Food Lion store in Ocean City. So the grocery store, once again, is the place to be.
Nestor Aparicio 02:51
I paid to that Food Lion on the way down to chicken Tink, I know exactly where that food line is.
8Seth Elkin 02:56
So yeah, we have two people sharing that $1.8 million jackpot in the last multi match drawing of fiscal year 2025. We’re now on into the state’s fiscal year 26 beginning July 1. So but 34 different prizes that were valued at $1 million or more that we had during those 12 months from July 1 of 2024, through June, 30 of this year. So lots of lots of big wins. We had a couple of them. One that you and I talked about last week was that gold rush progressive fast play game that had topped $2 million and we talked about
Nestor Aparicio 03:34
it. I knew somebody’s going to hit it. It’s a $30 play, right? I’m like, this is when you should be picked up. Is when there’s that much money at stake on a $30 jackpot. That’s kind of when to get in. And I knew it was going to get, I mean, it was working up on record number,
Seth Elkin 03:49
right? And you just never know. And it was Friday afternoon when we were winding down the day, and all of a sudden we get the notification there was a mutts liquors in Indian head in Charles County that sold that ticket, $2 million prize, and you’re right. That is the third largest fast play jackpot that we’ve had in the history of that type of game. We launched the fast play games in February of 2020 so they’re just over five years old now, and that is the third largest we had a $2.9 million and a $2.6 million along the way. And this one got up over 2 million and got hit and was claimed on the first of July. So we’re very happy for that winner. And not
Nestor Aparicio 04:32
8a lot of Marylanders have been to Indian Head. I’ve been to Indian head. I know where it is, down at Charles you drive right to the end to the water, and there it is. It’s like a whole military thing. It’s right across the water from Woodbridge, Virginia. It’s way down south of Charles County. So we got winners all over the place,
Seth Elkin 04:48
yeah, absolutely all all over. We had a $1 million scratch off winner in Elkton last week. We had another one in Essex. So $5 million winner, I think that you and I talked about. So some, some real. Big ones, and of course, the multi match that got split between Ocean City and Silver Springs. So winners all over the place, as you mentioned, and lots of big prizes we love, closing out the fiscal year with a bang with those four big, million dollar plus prizes that we gave away.
Nestor Aparicio 05:15
All I remember is I went to a really good dessert shop in Indian head. I had some coffee. I worked my way up. I just left the casino up at MGM. So, you know, I did the whole state. That was a couple years ago. This year, we’re doing my 27 favorite things to eat. 27 days. All are brought to you by the Maryland lottery. We’re going to be out on the road. I’m doing about nine shows in the month of August for our anniversary at all of our favorite places. So I’m really looking forward to that. So I’m trying to celebrate, even though I haven’t won 2 million bucks here. But I mean, you guys are giving, don’t wait. We saw that the Mega Millions got hit last week too. My wife noticed that, like on Friday, like, she’s like, I’m gonna buy tickets, and she didn’t buy. And then we went. We were royal farms getting some chicken, and Want, won’t want somebody it. But big
Seth Elkin 05:57
winner, right? Yeah, it’s been hit three times now, just in the last few months, this one was was a little closer to home than some of them have been. That was in Virginia that it got hit. So, you know, we’re hoping we get another one here. It’s been a little while, but
8Nestor Aparicio 06:11
last time you had a walk off, when’s the last time like you got the middle of the night somebody hit for 100 million, or hit just hit Mega Millions, or Powerball in our state, been a while, right?
Seth Elkin 06:24
Yeah, the $731 million Powerball jackpot in Lana Koning, that was January of 2021, and you’re right. That’s what happens that you get the call or the text in the middle of the night and you find out that you got a jackpot win, and you spring into action at that point. We sent people out to loniconing, out to the store that next morning, and lots of waiting for the winter. It took a few months before they came in and claimed. But yeah, it’s exciting. There’s a burst of energy definitely that that happens when there’s a big jackpot role
Nestor Aparicio 06:55
going on. If I want 31 was that at 730 731 point 1 million. If I lived in Lona coning, and I won 730 $1 million lone coating is like just a giant hill and a road going through it. It’s a cliff. You know, it’s out by the where the mountains are, uh, streams, beautiful, beautiful area Luna Coney, but it’s also the home of lefty Grove Park. And you being a baseball guy, me and a beat up I would, I would go to lefty Grove Park, and I would ponder my $731 million and have 730 1 million reasons. Seth Falcon is here. We like to talk a little baseball from time to time. Little weird that you and I would talk about art, because the only art that we really we know the only real art was on a bubble gum card in the 60s, right? I mean, we know that as sports fans right here, but there’s a big, big art thing, and I noticed this, and I sort of want the cat out of the bag a little bit last week. I haven’t really interacted with this. But this is an interesting thing, because we talk about where these scratch offs come from, and the eight, eight eights on the Back to the Future, and the fun little games that we play on the scratch us. But you’re trying to sort of create something different here. This is like a real artist, Maryland artist, submitting their work and have their art
Seth Elkin 08:08
8on a scratch off, right? Yeah. We are really excited about this thing. On July 1, we launched the Maryland treasures art contest. We are seeking submissions of original artwork by Maryland residents, and we’re going to pick some of them and use them as the designs for Maryland lottery scratch off tickets the contest, the name and the theme both are Maryland treasures. And the idea is that we’re looking for artwork that celebrates the state of Maryland, that captures elements of the state’s history or landmarks or culture or traditions. We want a ticket that people are going to look at and say, Wow, that is uniquely Maryland, and it’ll jump out. It’ll be something that looks different and feels different than any of the other scratch offs that we’ve done. This is the first time we’ve ever done a contest like this, and we’re really excited about it. We’ve been thinking about it for a while, and really happy to get it off the ground. Maryland treasures art contest. You can go to MD lottery.com and find all of the details. It’s MD lottery.com/call for art if you want to go directly to that page. And all the information, all the rules and the process for submitting your artwork are all there. And we’re really excited about this, I think we’re going to get something really creative that’s going to look different and feel different, but it’s also a way of us connecting with the community. And you and I talk about this all the time. That’s a big piece of what the lottery does. We exist to generate revenue for the state of Maryland, to generate a revenue that supports all sorts of programs and services that people rely on every day. But beyond that, we’re out there in the community making those connections. We are a supporting sponsor on site at fairs and festivals and all kinds of events, charity events, 60 or 70 different events, where you’ll find us throughout the year. And we kind of feel like this art contest is another extension of. That connection that we have with the community, and we can’t wait to see what people come up with. We know it’s going to be creative. We know it’s going to be something special for us. So we’ve been looking forward to this and really happy to launch it
Nestor Aparicio 10:11
all for art. I mean, I’ve called Art Donovan, I’ve called Art modell. I haven’t called you. Haven’t called him lately, but the Maryland someone to read this off right after the website the state’s natural beauty, culture icons, landmarks and history are a source of pride for Marylanders from Oakland to Ocean City and everywhere in between, including loaning and Indian Head. The Maryland lottery wants to celebrate what we treasure most about Maryland by having artists capture it to share it with our entire state. So the winning entry, $4,000 for each winning entry, three pieces of art will be selected, Lancet submissions up here, like Fort McHenry, and some sort of Oriole bird and some sort of, I don’t know ocean sort of, I don’t know Van Gogh Manty sort of palette going on here, sort of Starry Night or Ocean City night, but, but here’s the thing that I have a question about. And look, you’re just a communications guy. I happen to know the executive director. I can ask him, but it says here that there is going to be a panel of people that pick this criteria of the art. I need to know who’s on the panel. I need to know who the artists are that are going to select the artists. That’s what I want to know. Well, what are we on the panel? We have
Seth Elkin 11:26
a little bit of an idea. We got a few people in mind. We haven’t actually formed the panel yet. The this, the entry period goes all the way through August the 15th, so we’ve got a little bit of
Nestor Aparicio 11:35
time. Someone called me an artist. I’m an artist of some kind, you know, something, something like that. This is art behind me. It’s a good I do. This is the kind of submission we’d have, right? Like a water color of downtown Baltimore and all of its grandeur and glory, like that’s the kind of thing you’re looking for, horses grazing, thoroughbreds. Camden Yards, Ocean City, iconic Maryland things, maybe a Key Bridge motif, or something, something like that, right?
8Seth Elkin 12:05
Go for a plate full of crab cakes somebody wants to give you now you got
Nestor Aparicio 12:09
you giving me ideas about crabs. There’s just so many things that, like, I say this to people all the time. And one of the real joys of even me bragging about Indian head or loan accounting, of these strange little, small places that a lot of folks haven’t been to is that my crab cake tour has gotten me out to see like, I don’t say, every place I’ve had a crab cake in every county I did that the first summer. So getting off the side of the road, the state’s so beautiful this time of the year, so celebrating the state’s awesome. I I love this idea. You said it’s been in the works for a while. Somebody came up with a good idea over this is a great idea,
Seth Elkin 12:44
actually. Yeah, we’ve, I, as I said, we’ve really been looking forward to this. And I think that panel, when we when we have everybody together and in a room, I think they’re going to have a lot of fun. That’s going to be one of those assignments that probably a lot of people will be interested in, in taking part in, because it’s going to be fun to sit and look and and see what, what artwork that we get that connects with that theme the best. So that Maryland treasures theme. And as you say, I think there’s all kinds of inspiration out there for people to use to create the the kind of artwork that we’re looking for. And we can’t wait to see what people come up with. It’s going to be a lot of fun, by the way. Here
Nestor Aparicio 13:20
8everybody knows me. I’m I can’t even draw stick figures. You know what? I mean, like, I’m not an artist, right? I mean, I, you know, a little bit here and there, sketchy sketch, sketch or whatever. But it’s my first thought was, AI. I’m learning AI. I mean, this, this week I’m learning, I mean, like, I am really using Fourth of July weekend to get AI, it up and it says, No, a AI generated content. I it needs to be original. We want some my best artistic skills will involve roughing out the edges of AI, probably for the rest of my life. AI is going to make me more skilled, but not in this particular competition.
Seth Elkin 13:57
No, we want to make sure it’s original artwork and and I think it’s going to be, it’s going to be great once we select those artists to introduce them to the public. I think that’s going to be part of the the promotional end of this, once we get closer to the launch of the ticket, takes a little bit of time to get the tickets designed and produced. The Maryland treasures ticket actually is planned to go on sale in March of 2026 there’s going to be a little bit of a lag in there as we get ready, but we’ll be getting to know the artists, and help the state get to know those artists, and I think be a great opportunity for them and and a great showcase for their work.
Nestor Aparicio 14:33
What’s the deadline on this? One of people, if they’re, if they’ve, because I’m assuming a lot of people have already drawn really cool stuff, their stuff. I mean, I go to just going to the farmer’s market weekend, you see great art all over the place, and, you know, from obeying the Orioles and the ravens to sort of whatever the things would be that were iconic, iconic here. There’s so much art already out there that could be entered that people don’t even have to create art. It’s taking something’s already on their wall. What’s the deadline on. This August, the 15th,
Seth Elkin 15:01
is the deadline to get and then we’ll be evaluating in the in the weeks after that, and then we’ll go from there. So you got a month and a half. We opened up the entry period on the on the first of July. So very excited to get that started, and can’t wait to see what happens. I just want to know
8Nestor Aparicio 15:16
who’s on the panel. That’s all. I just want to who’s making decisions. Seth Elkins making these decisions right now. He’s our communications chief of all things at the Maryland lottery, as we go through winners and money. And do we have any other winners stories before I get any further back into this rush, start talking about the orals not hitting enough home runs
Seth Elkin 15:34
for you. You know, I think we covered the main winner stories that that multi match was real big earlier this week, that we got that in right before the end of the fiscal year. So I think we’re in pretty good shape on on winners and waiting for the next ones to show up. Here,
Nestor Aparicio 15:47
5 million in Essex last week. You can’t do better than that, all right. Home run riches. Um, this is where you know, you play the Ed McMahon role, and you do the timpani, and you tell me how many we got. And this is where I say, not enough, not enough grand slams, not enough home runs. We’re not running John Martin, right? He’s just off because it’s a holiday. He’s not off trying to figure out how to pay off all these home run riches winners. But the good news is, as you’ve pointed out, some crappy pitching coming up later on in the month, for some people that do get their names drawn.
Seth Elkin 16:17
8Hey and you know, first of all, as you and I are talking your boy, Gary Sanchez, who you had some disparaging words about his defense not too long ago, as I recall, he hit one off Jacob deGrom the last night that I
Nestor Aparicio 16:28
saw, yeah, yeah, yeah. Not enough off of Jacob. That’s not easy to do, though, that’s
Seth Elkin 16:33
not easy to do. He had a deGrom. Pits are pretty nice game for the Rangers, so
Nestor Aparicio 16:36
I want a pitcher like deGrom, not one that’s hurt, but I want one like him. We’ve got one in Pittsburgh. Well, we had, I mean, we had Corbin burns for a minute. We had, we had Bradish for a minute. But it’s just different when you roll out good pitching, right? I mean, the weather, hurt, injured, however, how much you pay for it, seeing scoop will do what he’s doing, right? Yeah, making any money, but like, just seeing what you’re going Pittsburgh. I mean, seeing excellence from pitching cuts down on home runs, and this makes John Martin’s life a little easier.
8Seth Elkin 17:07
But yeah, as you mentioned, we’re going to get some chances to hit some homers here coming up this month, with the weather heating up and the the Orioles will be going up against John Martin’s Cleveland guardians, so maybe they’ll get some there. But again, the what I’ve got circled is, is that series against the Colorado Rockies when they come to town July 25 and we’re actually going to be at that game, you can find the lottery set up on Utah street before the game so they could get hit with a home run. So we’ll be there cheering on for Ryan Kyler of new market. He is the contestant of the game for that July 25 game. So I have a feeling we’re going to, we’re going to see some home runs. It out of the park, those three games with the Rockies in town. But yeah, this so obviously, a lot of fun. We always keep track of that. And more than $105,000 worth of home run riches winnings paid to the contestants of the game so far this year and and still counting?
Nestor Aparicio 18:01
Well, I think we hit everything here, other than just the fact that we have some cool fast play games. We haven’t talked about pressure, luck, roulette monopoly. These are games that are that are not scratch off. They are like out of the machine, but also still fun prizes, fun games and anything that involves the Whammy. If I can bring the Whammy into the
Seth Elkin 18:21
conversation, I’m all for doing it. I loved when we did that, because we got to we’ve got a pressure walk scratch off game as well. And I don’t know about you, but I that was one of the game shows that I remember watching. I really love that game. So a lot of fun, lot of nostalgia. That’s that’s something that we kind of go back to on a regular basis, is nostalgia for pop culture items, like game shows and like Back to the Future, as we’ve talked about. So we have a lot of fun with that kind of thing,
Nestor Aparicio 18:48
8thing, and let’s make a deal as well. So I can’t wait to get the pictures of the people that headed out to LA here this month. Seth Falcon is with the Maryland lottery. He’ll be watching baseball this weekend, doing the Fourth of July thing. We’re going to be doing our Maryland crab cake tour. We’re going to be back out on the road at deepest Qualis on two deepest Qualis on Tuesday, giving away the Back to the Future scratch off my last batch, including on Thursday at Costas and Timonium, will be joined by Congressman Johnny Olszewski on Thursday, also Steve Rouse, longtime morning show host and legend. I’ve never had Steve rouse on my show. I certainly was never on his show. My ratings weren’t good enough to be on his show back in the day, and then on Tuesday, just a beautiful day in the morning, former UMBC Final Four coaching my pal Pete karenge, coming back to the homeland, not Highland town, but canton in the morning at the new you better get a new deep squally Seth, I mean, you’re out of town, guy. You got to come and enjoy the beauty of the new deepest Qualis is unbelievable. I hadn’t been there. I went in about a month ago. I might I got to do the show here, and I saw Joe. So we’re doing the show there. So if you haven’t been make sure you check it out. Tuesday morning. Dan Rodricks will be with us, Pete karenge, as well as Joe Giordano, who’s a AWARD WINNING PHOTO JOURNALIST who did a really cool thing with Bethlehem Steel down at the museum. In the industry that I’m going to talk to him about, as well as a million other things. So, you know, crab cake tours heating up. I’m giving away a scratch offs. You got more scratch offs coming down the line, right? Where are you going to have ravens things going about a month from now too?
Seth Elkin 20:11
Right? Yep, it’s on its way. Ravens tickets and Second Chance contest will come in August. So be on the lookout for that, and particularly that, that second chance contest, we give away season tickets for the current season. So there will be people that win 2025 season ticket packages. And in order to get in on those drawings, you gotta get your ravens tickets and get them entered pretty quickly after the Ravens tickets go on sale. So be on the lookout for that. But of course, lots and lots more chances to win in the Ravens Second Chance contest, because it goes on throughout the football season. It’s just that first drawing comes up pretty quickly after the the tickets are launched. So looking forward to that. That’s always a big deal for us every summer, and a great promotional partnership we have with the Baltimore
Nestor Aparicio 20:54
Ravens. And for those who don’t know much about Seth Falcon and my relationship here over the last five years, if you do win those season tickets, you will have a chance to see the Pittsburgh Steelers play late in the season. And you know, I know you’re not a betting man because you worked for the Maryland lottery. You’re not allowed to be, but if you and I placed a friendly wager as to whether Aaron Rodgers would be upright and what the record would be, Steelers have had a hell of a week signing guys, though, right? I mean, Steelers signing players this week. We must say that I
Seth Elkin 21:22
the last couple of years, I don’t know if I recognize this team anymore, because they never used to do this thing in the free agent market. They never used to do this thing with making blockbuster trades the way they did this week. So it’s, it’s, it’s interesting to say the least. I don’t know that it has turned them into a contender, because I think you got to leapfrog a bunch of teams in the AFC is just up against a real tough group
8Nestor Aparicio 21:43
of Hall of Fame quarterback, though they do
Seth Elkin 21:47
at the end of his career, yes, at the tail end, the very end, the last vestiges of his career. And I don’t know that that would be an interesting, interesting little side wager, whether or not Aaron, Aaron Rodgers will still be the quarterback, the starting quarterback of the stewards for that game late in the season against the Ravens. I don’t
Nestor Aparicio 22:04
know the Jets were perceived to have a lot of talent around him. I think the Steelers have talent. I don’t know what’s going on with the TJ wat thing or whatever, but in a general sense, every year, this time of year, I make fun of you. I give you a hard time. I send Mike Tomlin some nasty texts. And every year I look up and it’s November, and they’re trouble, and they have a chance, and they’re not two and nine, like you think they’re going to be they’re six and five, and on the way to beat you to be seven and five, like, that’s just the Steeler Mojo. And, you know, I look at them and say, they made themselves a better team in the last two weeks than they were two months ago. I’ll say that
Seth Elkin 22:46
8marginally. Yeah, I think I would grudgingly agree with that. But you know, you got to see them produce late in the season, and you got to see them show up for a playoff game and not get blown off the field the way they have the last several times they’ve been in the playoffs. So it’s been a little discouraging, but I think at least they’re they’re making moves. They’re making attempts to to change the roster, particularly that defense that got slashed and gashed by the Ravens in that playoff game in January, and that there, there are a lot of new faces now on that defense, the people that were that were there on the field getting beat up by the ravens are not going to be there this year. So that’s at least a step in the right direction. I
Nestor Aparicio 23:24
remember making fun of Bobby Brewster and Mark Malone and all them, you know, I mean, just down the line, even Neil O’Donnell, though he’s a Terp, he a Terp, but you know, the Aaron Rodgers thing, I wouldn’t want him to be my quarterback, but it’s better than what they’ve had the last couple years. I’ll say that. Perhaps we’ll see. I can’t even get a Steelers fan to talk trash. It’s July. Get your game face on. Maybe not going to do what the pirates
Seth Elkin 23:50
were. A tough audience. We got six Lombardi’s. The expectations are high. You know,
Nestor Aparicio 23:55
still talking about the 70s. I tell you what Seth Elkin is here, one for the thumb and all of that stuff. He is with the Maryland lottery. He communicates for the lottery, but not for the Steelers, and certainly not on behalf of the pirates ever around here. Home run. Richards is alive. We’re doing the Maryland crab cake tour deepest crawleys On Tuesday, Thursday at Costas Oh. And by the way, following, we’re going to be at 1623, brewing in Eldersburg. And also a very special morning coffee edition of the crab cake tour at Zeke’s over in Laravel. That’s going to be in the 18th so what’s crab cake tours? This month we’re getting the 27th anniversary. The 26 oyster is going to turn it I don’t know what I’m going to do for a 27 I’m going to try to figure something out with a 27 in our logo around here on August the third, we turned 27 years old, and I’m going to be featuring my 27 favorite things to eat. And because you’re not from around here, I’m just going to say two words to you, because it is the season peach cake. That’s all I’m going to say. Peach cake. It’s the time of the year for peach cake. So if you know anything about me, you know that’s going to be in my top 27 I am Nestor. We are wnst. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore and we never stop talking Maryland lottery and winners and all that good stuff in MD lottery and Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.
