With many holiday promotions in progress, John Martin of The Maryland Lottery joins Nestor to discuss Thankswinning and huge jackpots in Mega Millions and Powerball and plenty of local winners in the Ravens second-chance drawings.
Nestor Aparicio discusses the Maryland Lottery’s promotions and events, including the $843 million Mega Millions jackpot and the $438 million Powerball jackpot. John Martin, Executive Director of Maryland Lottery and Gaming, highlights the Ravens scratch-off tickets, second chance prizes, and upcoming events like the “Unlock the Cash” promotion, where participants can win up to $25,000. Martin also mentions the holiday raffle with a $1 million grand prize and partnerships with Giant for grocery gift cards. The conversation also touches on the Baltimore Ravens’ schedule and the importance of playing responsibly.
- [ ] Check MD lottery.com for details on the second-chance drawings and other Ravens ticket promotions.
- [ ] Promote the holiday raffle, which has over 10,000 cash prizes of $50 or more and a $1 million grand prize.
- [ ] Provide information on the “Thankswinning” promotion, where players can win instant prizes when playing draw games.
- [ ] Promote the partnership with Giant grocery stores, where players can win grocery gift cards by entering Mega Millions tickets.
Maryland Lottery and Ravens Scratch Offs
- Nestor Aparicio discusses his current road trip for the Ravens and his Maryland crab cake tour.
- Nestor mentions upcoming events, including a visit to Cocos on Wednesday and Pizza John’s in Essex on Friday.
- Nestor introduces John Martin, the Executive Director of Maryland Lottery and Gaming, to discuss the 800 million jackpot and other lottery updates.
- Nestor shares a personal anecdote about his wife’s desire to wait for the jackpot to reach a billion before playing.
Cleveland Guardians and Orioles Management
- Nestor asks John Martin about his background and connection to Cleveland, mentioning Jack Harbaugh’s fandom for the Cleveland Guardians.
- Nestor discusses the recent appointment of Craig Albornaz as the Orioles manager and his Boston accent.
- John Martin acknowledges Craig Albornaz’s role in helping Stephen Vogt, who is nominated for American League Manager of the Year.
- Nestor shares his impressions of Stephen Vogt’s involvement in the press conference and his relationship with Craig Albornaz.
Jackpot and Powerball Comparisons
- Nestor and John Martin discuss the current Mega Millions jackpot of 843 million and the Powerball jackpot of 438 million.
- Nestor humorously mentions his wife’s greedy nature and her desire to wait for the jackpot to reach a billion.
- John Martin highlights the coincidence of the jackpot numbers ending in the same digits.
- Nestor jokes about his mother-in-law’s strategy of boxing a specific number and his own preference for scented tickets.
Ravens Scratch Offs and Second Chance Opportunities
- Nestor asks John Martin about the eligibility and second chance opportunities for the Ravens scratch offs.
- John Martin explains the various prizes and second chance opportunities available, including a trip to Cincinnati and season tickets.
- John Martin mentions the upcoming drawing on November 14 and the importance of registering non-winning tickets on the My Lottery Rewards account.
- Nestor shares his experience of giving away Ravens scratch offs and the importance of checking for second chance opportunities.
Pass for Cash and Raven Alums
- Nestor discusses the Pass for Cash promotion and the friendly rivalry among Ravens alums.
- John Martin shares a story about Sam Cooke, a Ravens punter who played quarterback in high school and participated in an employee event.
- Nestor recalls a past conversation with Sam Cooke and his experience as a guest on his show.
- John Martin mentions the game show-like atmosphere of the Pass for Cash promotion and the prizes available.
Unlock the Cash Promotion
- John Martin introduces the Unlock the Cash promotion, where participants can win up to $25,000 by entering non-winning tickets.
- John Martin describes the game show-like event where two lucky people pick safe combinations to win cash prizes.
- Nestor expresses his interest in attending the event to witness the excitement.
- John Martin mentions the upcoming drawing and the prizes awarded for booklets of scratch-off tickets.
Holiday Raffle and Giant Partnership
- John Martin announces a new holiday raffle with a chance to win a million dollars and over 10,000 cash prizes.
- The raffle tickets are available at any lottery retailer, and there are early bird drawings for $50,000.
- John Martin highlights the partnership with Giant, where Mega Millions ticket purchases can enter a drawing for grocery gift cards.
- Nestor shares his preference for shopping at Giant and his excitement about the promotion.
Holiday Promotions and Responsible Gaming
- John Martin discusses various holiday promotions, including Holiday Money Match, Reindeer Riches, and Snowflake Cash.
- Nestor emphasizes the importance of playing responsibly and downloading the MD Lottery app for second chance opportunities.
- John Martin mentions the festive names of the promotions and the fun they bring during the holiday season.
- Nestor expresses his anticipation for the scented candy cane cash tickets and the upcoming holiday events.
Sports Wagering and Upcoming Events
- Nestor and John Martin discuss the sports wagering aspect of the lottery and the importance of playing responsibly.
- John Martin mentions upcoming events with the Ravens, including the Thanksgiving night game against the Bengals and the Jets game on November 23.
- Nestor hopes for good weather and healthy conditions for the players during the upcoming games.
- John Martin and Nestor discuss the excitement of the upcoming football season and the importance of supporting the Ravens.
Final Thoughts and Future Plans
- Nestor and John Martin wrap up the conversation, with Nestor expressing his gratitude for the lottery promotions and the opportunity to give away tickets.
- Nestor shares his plans for future events, including visits to new places and continuing to give away Ravens scratch offs.
- John Martin reiterates the importance of checking MD Lottery.com for updates on promotions and second chance opportunities.
- Nestor and John Martin conclude the discussion, with Nestor encouraging listeners to play responsibly and take advantage of the lottery promotions.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Maryland Lottery, Mega Millions, Powerball, Ravens scratch offs, second chance, holiday raffle, Pass for Cash, unlock the cash, Thanksgiving, holiday promotions, sports wagering, Giant partnership, Maryland gaming, lottery app, football season.
SPEAKERS
John Martin, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive and positively getting through this road trip for the Ravens that won’t end for at least another week. Here, Luke is out in Owings Mills doing it all, and I’m doing the Maryland crab cake tour. We’re at Cocos on Wednesday this week, I will have the Raven scratch off. These are not scented yet, but we’re going to have the very, very special candy cane ones coming soon, so I’m looking forward to that. And on Friday, I will also have Raven scratch offs from our friends at the Maryland Lotter. We’ll be at Pizza John’s in Essex, and yes, they have a crab cake, and you’re welcome to order it, but I’m going to be getting the double Provolone cheesesteak and some crinkle cut french fries and some extra gravy, because that’s the way I roll when I’m in Essex. This guy disappeared on us last week, but he is overturned. He is the executive director of all things Maryland, lottery and gaming. And yes, we’re going to get to this 800 million jackpot. We’re going to get to thanks winning and Halloween, which is now over with, and all of this other stuff. But I got to ask you, I don’t know a lot of Cleveland guardians fans in my life. I have a handful people in Cleveland. I know much, bishops and friends, but you’re one of the few social people I know here in the Baltimore area who has a background in Cleveland. By the way, Jack Harbaugh is also John’s father, Jim’s father, huge Cleveland guardians fan as well. But Craig albornaz, since the last time I got together with you has been made the Orioles manager. He came in with his Boston accent and all that, I just need to ask, I know you’re a really big baseball fan. Were you aware of who he was? I mean, like, I just because I had to google him when they when they introduced him, and it made me feel like a knucklehead baseball
John Martin 01:38
fan, you know? And anytime you root for a team. You you try to get involved and understand it all. But I will acknowledge not until the end of the season, when his actually last year, his name was kicked around as potential candidate and and he decided to return last year, and we’re glad that he did. I mean, he certainly helped Stephen vote, who you know, clearly is the shining star there, nominated again for the second consecutive American League Manager of the Year. We’ll see how that plays out. But certainly Craig was a big part of that. And I think, I think it’s a good thing, considering what has happened here. As a casual observer, I think a little little Cleveland is isn’t a bad thing.
Nestor Aparicio 02:21
Well, and let me add to that, that Steven Vogt got on a plane and flew into Baltimore from wherever his home is. Maybe he lives in Cleveland. LC, I don’t know, but flew in for the press conference, John, I’m, you know, 40 some odd, 4142 years into doing this work, I’ve been in a lot of press conferences. I was there when the capitals fired Brian Murray and hired his brother. You know, I’ve been a really weird press conferences. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen the manager of the other team come in and say, This is my guy. You picked a good guy. And I thought that that was of all the things out of the press conference on Tuesday. It made me impressed by Albert es, but it also made me impressed by Stephen vote and their relationship and their friendship. So I thought that’s kind of neat. That may bode well for home run riches, but poorly for you if you have
John Martin 03:05
to pay the bill well. And again, we don’t need to beat this one to death. But you look at and there are the brothers relationships, Terry Francona and Keith cash had a have a great similar relationship. So it’s good to see when friends are friends, no matter what uniform they’re wearing, and it will add for a spirited get together, I’m sure when the o’s and the guards get together, all right? So
Nestor Aparicio 03:26
I want to start with the jackpot with you this week. Please do because this involves my wife, right? Right? Involves me being ineligible to win Marilyn lottery gaming individuals, and I give these away, right? So even the unscented ones, my wife and I pulled up to the row photo the other day, and I was gonna get some fried chicken, and she’s driving, and I’m just picking up two people. It was my birthday. So I get, you know, I get my free app my birthday. Wow. So, yeah, free chicken. I love it. So she looked up and it said 810 million or whatever, sure. And she looked and she’s like, I want to play. I’m like, we’ll get your 20 out and go in there and go get you some. Let’s go, you know. And she’s like, I’m gonna wait for it to get to a billion. And I’m thinking greedy, greedy 800 right now as we sit here, 843 million. I mean, I went in and got my chicken and I, you know, I’m far enough into my marriage, I’m not gonna argue with her about this. So I’m just like, okay, maybe you’ll feel luckier next week. But it is amazing how much money $843 million is, and how it could be somehow looked down upon in within my relationship, that it wouldn’t be enough.
John Martin 04:33
Here’s here’s something that’s equally amazing, because we are an industry of numbers, Nestor, you know that. So yes, as we speak, the Mega Millions jackpot is 843 million, but the Powerball is 438
Nestor Aparicio 04:49
million. You can’t live on that. Who’s gonna the same but the same? Three digits, 843438,
John Martin 04:57
wow, that’s weird, coincidence. Minutes. I
Nestor Aparicio 05:00
don’t know. You know what Miss Edie would do right now if she were here, and I did bring her up playing both box Ed, it’s gonna be my number. I’m gonna box that number, and that number’s gonna hit because that number ain’t hitting the wall. Yeah, pretty good.
John Martin 05:12
That is, that was vintage. You like that? That was very good, very good, very good. Hey, and you give me an idea too, about send a ticket, but, but I don’t think anybody wants to smell a raven’s locker room.
Nestor Aparicio 05:22
No, no, but I am all about the scented tickets, and I’m not going to use the other S word for them that I use, Hey, Seth, got mad at me. I sniff scented tickets. Can I say that I do that? Is that
John Martin 05:33
allowed? Well, you know what? What you do on your time, pal, right now you’ve got my time. All right, the clock is rolling
Nestor Aparicio 05:38
away. Let’s get into this. Because I know you got winners. I know we got stuff going on here. I know we got ravens things. I mean, talk about, you know this thing’s going I don’t know if you know this, but when you left the show, we’ve won twice since the last time you were here. So and we’re hoping to win again. So they’re getting back into this thing, um, we are getting to the point here. We’re getting into the middle, toward the end of the season. Get everybody the lowdown on the Raven scratch off, because people would think, well, am I still eligible? Can I still second chance? Can I still win the big jackpot? Yes, yes, and yes, right? Oh
John Martin 06:07
heck yes. You go to MD lottery.com and check on the second chance prices for the Ravens ticket. You know, we have our fan of the game where we we put money into the pot for touchdown. So we have 24 touchdowns. We’ve paid over $32,000 for the Ravens fan of the game. But you can be eligible for things like, oh, a way trip coming up on December 14 in Cincinnati, in the jungle. Joe Flacco. See Joe throw. That’s always a fun prize. Our next drawing, by the way, is November 14, so you have plenty of time to get your non winning tickets into your My lottery rewards account. At that point, we’ll be drawing for another finalist for our 20 years of season tickets. We’ll be giving away $10,000 cash and a separate drawing. We’ll have a couple winners for 2026 season tickets. We have our pass for cash game day experience coming up fan of the game. So yeah, every month we have something to deliver on up through the end of the football season, and then our selection of season tickets for 20 years typically happens right after the Super Bowl. So stay tuned for more details. Check MD lottery.com, but yes, plenty of time to get in on the winning.
Nestor Aparicio 07:24
As a friend of many, many ravens alums, I find your pass for cash to be great when I find out who the two Raven alums are, and then they get on my social media and they fight about who’s going to throw more touchdowns pass for cash is so you are getting extra heat from the Ravens alums for pass for cash. I promise you that I’ve seen it
John Martin 07:44
what, I tell you what, and just go off script here, yes, we do have a script. Go off script here. We had Sam Cooke in for an employee event. What a great guy. Right away.
Nestor Aparicio 07:54
He can throw the football. He is a ringer. He played. He was a quarterback in Nebraska in high school. He is a legitimate he can if, if you were to give me a ringer, and no offense to Kyle Richardson, who I like, and late Greg Montgomery, who I loved, but punters, he’d be my punter, quarterback of choice. I would pick it. You know what? Zasta doll, your Cleveland buddy, yes, May that would be the bummer for me. I’d say I want Sam Cooke, and then zastidal shows up with that left handed rifle is, yeah, he comes on the show from time to time. So So punters, they’re people
John Martin 08:29
too, and they know it, and they are and in talking to Sam in front of our crowd there, I picked on that fact. I said, Sam, you were seven of eight in your passing career. And I said, Do you remember when he said, yep, yep, it was the last one. And he was in painful detail relate how that last one was incomplete. And it’s a great story. Next time you talk to him, ask him about it.
Nestor Aparicio 08:51
The last Raven show I ever did, like out at a bar five years ago, before the plague. Sam Cooke was my guest. It was a snowy night, and he lives up in that area, and came out, I had, it was one of the greatest conversations ever. And he was a guy who didn’t do my show a whole lot. He’s the punter who’s kind of quiet and and all that. He came out, and we talked about him playing quarterback. We talked about his hometown, in Nebraska, and I looked it up. Sam Cook legend loves Sam Cooke. John Martin is here. He’s the Executive Director of all things Marilyn, lottery and gaming. He gets to meet ravens players and do pass for cash as well. But you also get to meet winners. And this thing you’re doing where we come down and unlock this and unlock that, and people come down, that is the game show. Part of your little let’s make a deal. Thing that you do, tell everybody about that, because I find it to be a fascinating sort of contest and promotion that you bring people down to Montgomery Park, where I get my ravens lottery tickets from Roz and I’ll be getting my scented tickets, my scented holiday tickets soon, but you do invite people down and they’re giddy and they’re excited, and I compared it to the Geraldo Rivera thing, but as Seth said to me. Last week, there’s no there’s actual prizes in the vault.
John Martin 10:02
That’s right, that’s right. It’s funny that we talked about that. But unlock the cash is our promotion. Check it out. MD lottery.com, it’s a second chance promotion where you get a chance, if you are a lucky person, to come down to the studio here and participate, you could win up to $25,000 you enter $10 worth of non winning break the bank scratch offs and or any fast play Cash combination ticket. And then those we select from our vault of of entrance and two lucky people come down to the studio. We’ve already had two of them. The most recent one, you can check out the winner story. We had Sally Drake and Tanya Shreve each won some cash when they came down here and they get a chance to to pick a safe combination. There are six safes in front of them. They each will get to pick two, one each, open up the prize. Pick another one each, open up the prize and see how much cash they win. And this last time, let’s see Sally Drake won $5,000 Tanya Shreve won $17,500 there are also some prizes awarded for for books of scratch off tickets. So a lot of fun. Check it out. Yes, it’s a game show atmosphere. We have one more drawing to go, and that will have those winners announced probably in the next week or two.
Nestor Aparicio 11:27
At some point, I’m going to organize to come down, and I just want to watch these people do this, because it’s it there. There is a voyeur part of you’re going to win 17,500 the way Tonya did or 5000 at that point. But for most people just scratching off. And I talked about this couple weeks ago, we almost had someone like throw a ticket away. Be careful, because I do this when I give these out, because there’s a little prize check at the bottom, and that’s like an easy way to make sure. And then there’s second chance, of course, an MD lottery.com download the app. That’s the best way to do this. But I would hate for people. Did I give them this ticket and I say it and then they scratch? I didn’t win. I’m like, no, no, no, you don’t understand. Like, the only way you’re really going to win big is to, like, really win, unless you win five or 10 bucks or even 50 or 100 bucks. I’ve had that happen, but the way to win big is to go all in, download the app, make sure you’re playing my a lot of rewards that that is how you get the big banana in these contests.
John Martin 12:27
Well, here’s another way to win. We have introduced for the first time in a long time, a holiday raffle. Just started this week. It’s your best chance to win a million dollars. We’ll have over 10,000 cash prizes of $50 or more. It’s a $20 ticket on sale now at any of our 4300 lottery retailers, and it plays just like a raffle game. You pay your $20 you get a ticket. It will have a six digit number on the ticket, and we’ll have a couple of what we like to call early bird drawings, where you could be selected to win $50,000 on November 24 December 8 or December 22 and if you win one of the early bird drawings, you are not ineligible. Matter of fact, you continue to be eligible for the big prize, which is a million dollars be drawn on January 2. So
Nestor Aparicio 13:15
we that’s a good start to the year. John Martin, oh, it is January 2. A million bucks. Somebody. Limited number of tickets, 325,000
John Martin 13:23
tickets are available. And when they’re gone, they’re gone. So we have between now and January 1, or sooner, if they’re gone by then, check MD lottery.com to figure out how it works. And if you want to get in on that, you are right, Nestor, that’s a great way to start 2026 huh? Yeah, I’m out of MD
Nestor Aparicio 13:39
lottery.com and usually, like, there’s a little bit of this and a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and some football, or some baseball or whatever. Feels like you guys have a lot of, like, holiday oriented promotions, in a general sense. Thanks winning I’m looking up here. I want to make sure I get to that, because we’ll still have all of December for the center tickets, but we’ve came off Halloween. Thanks winning time. Tell me about this promotion
John Martin 13:59
here. Yeah, it’s available now through the end of November, any draw game you play, any of our draw game, like our pick three games, our multimedia games, whatever you have a random chance to win $2 or $5 instant win coupons or a free $1 fast play, reindeer riches ticket. So again, details at MD lottery.com it’s a fun way to reward people who like to play daily draw games or weekly draw games that on a random basis, they could get a little extra thanks winning time.
Nestor Aparicio 14:32
All right, and I’ve always threatened you that I want to have the people that name these competitions on that. I really I need to meet your marketing people. John, because gifts of green, festive fortune. Silver bell bucks, I almost want to sing the song there. Silver would you be? Would you be shocked to know that I do all of that? No, you don’t. Don’t. Come on. You have people for that. You’re the executive director Marilyn. Lottery game. Just one buck snow. Much fun. And then, of course. Dollars, my favorite scented candy cane cash. I can’t wait to get out this. We can get rid of these ravens tickets so I can get my bag smelling like candy canes for the holidays. I might not be ready for that till Thanksgiving, but I am ready for that.
John Martin 15:13
Yeah, yeah. You may, you may want to. And you know what? If you’re getting ready for Thanksgiving or the holidays, just another little promotion we started this year. We’d like to work with our partners. From time to time, we’ve done things with with people that are also sponsors of yours, but we’re working now with giant and the and their grocery chain.
Nestor Aparicio 15:31
That’s where I get my cereal. I’m a giant shopper. So yes,
John Martin 15:35
there you go. You can have by entering your $10 Mega Millions tickets purchased. And as you now know, Mega Millions is a $5 per play, so you have to pick 10 plays. So $10 Mega Millions ticket purchase will get you an entry into a drawing for cash that you can turn around use for groceries. And the entry deadline for the very first one is November 18. So all through the month of November, December, up until January, 4 giant in partnership with Maryland lottery, will be awarding winners of $250 giant gift cards and a couple lucky winners of $1,000 giant gift cards and $1,500 giant gift cards. So check out all of the deadlines the the prize. Prize prize is available. And enjoy your holiday shopping with our friends at giant here’s
Nestor Aparicio 16:27
John Martin. He’s the Executive Director of all things Maryland, lottery and gaming. He’ll be giving me these scented tickets here. I don’t know if I’m going to like him more or less than the gingerbreads last year, but you’ve also got a fast play thing going on with a bunch of holiday promotions as well. Holiday money match, reindeer riches, snowflake cash, show just so many different ways to get out play for the holidays. Please, please play responsibly. And I think if I guess this is where I will end this with the sports wagering thing for you to talk a little bit about that part of the lotteries package in this time of the year, as we get up on Thanksgiving and Christmas as well, to continue to play responsibly, but just bad news coming out in the sports wagering stuff in the NBA stuff and stuff like that. I’m just always telling people, take it slow. Slow your roll. Because it feels like they play football eight nights a week. John, they really do.
John Martin 17:17
They do. And speaking of eight nights a week and football, as you are well aware, and ravens nation is well aware, coming up in some of our future events here in the month of November, we will be with ravens faithful on Thanksgiving night, because that is a home game with the
Nestor Aparicio 17:36
Cincinnati Oh yeah. Joe Flacco, see Joe throw.
John Martin 17:41
Wow, wow. Didn’t know that was coming there. So yeah, and then we also going to be at at the stadium on, let’s see, Sunday, November 23 for the Jets. The Jets used to have a football team, didn’t
Nestor Aparicio 17:54
they? Well, until like Tuesday, around lunchtime, they dealt some guys away. So they’ll, they’ll, they will still come in and play, I tell you what for the Ravens this next couple of weeks. This is, this is a nice little warm up. And I know you guys do a lot with the ravens, a lot on the home games. Pass for cash, all that stuff. I hope we get some decent weather for some home games, to get some fans down there and re reinvigorate this season that at one point was one in five. It’s a lot more fun when they’re five and five than one and five. I I promise you that.
John Martin 18:21
Yeah, absolutely. And it is. It’s a tough part of schedule. You got two games in five days. You can say, yeah, one of them is the jets with the Bengals. But you know what? They’re both NFL teams, so a lot’s got to happen. And you’re right, weather is going to be a big part of that. Hopefully it’ll be good weather, healthy conditions for players. But yeah, that’s, that’s gonna, I guess we’ll see where we’re at it after the Thanksgiving game, huh?
Nestor Aparicio 18:45
Ease into my turducken as I as I get going here on Thanksgiving time I’ve had turducken, it’s delicious, is it? I’ve never had it. So it’s a place in Sarasota by my wife’s house that they make it 20. You know, every day I’ve gotten it there. There aren’t a whole lot of places that you can go on a menu in like May and get to know. I would agree with you. This place was Guy Fieri award winning. So if you ever go to Oriole spring training in Sarasota, I got a joint for you. John Martin is here. He’s the Executive Director of all things Maryland, lottery and gaming. Always encourage you to play responsibly. Always encourage you to download the app. Make sure you’re taking advantage of second chances, that if you do play, give yourself the best chance to win, and win big and win cash. And my wife next, next week, we don’t hit the jackpot of Mega Millions, it’ll go over a billion. And then, you know, we’ll throw our hat into the ring, I think, as a family, to try
John Martin 19:37
to, well, we hope that, you know, if she is, it’s discretionary income. You know, it’s it’s entertainment. And if she’s entertained at a billion, but not at 840, 3 million, that’s okay. I’m not just here to decide what her level of entertainment
Nestor Aparicio 19:52
one jackpot. Is that too much to ask for in a lifetime that she could win just one jackpot? Yes, it is. Be okay to win 430, 8 million, too in Powerball. I am Nestor. He is John Martin. We are will continue to give away our Raven scratch offs until such point where I get sent to tickets next month, uh, we’re at Cocos on Wednesday this week. On Friday, we’ll be back at Pizza John’s in Essex. I am putting together fadeleys into, uh, before Thanksgiving. And I have a whole litany of places during the holidays. We’re gonna go to some first time places. I’m setting some stuff up into December. I have the whole month around, and I’m hoping we have good football to talk about, but in that case, we’ll be at least giving away some Maryland lottery winners and some scratch offs. I am Nestor, we are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore positive. Stay with us.
