A fortune cookie inspired Sulaiman Abdullah’s $150,000 Powerball win in the June 9 drawing. |
Bowie retailer sells big winner in June 9 drawing
Maryland Lottery players who win big find their lucky numbers in all sorts of places including street signs, dreams, license plates and, of course, fortune cookies. A Laurel man who just claimed a $150,000 Powerball prize found his just desserts with numbers from a fortune cookie he opened months ago!
“I’ve been playing the same numbers for two months,” said Sulaiman Abdullah, who plans to keep playing his fortune cookie’s digits in hopes of landing a jackpot win. So far, those numbers led to wins in drawings for his two favorite jackpot games of Mega Millions and Powerball.
The father of six and grandfather of five has played the numbers week after week in both games. He won $32 here and $100 there, but never a major prize. On June 9, the optimistic 60-year-old visited Bowie Exxon at 1500 North Crain Highway in Bowie and bought several Powerball tickets. He played his fortune cookie numbers and added the Power Play multiplier feature to his tickets, too. The Saturday drawing came and went.
“On Sunday morning, I went outside to the garage and checked my tickets on my phone,” Sulaiman said. He pulled up the Maryland Lottery app on his smartphone and started checking each ticket.
“The last one I checked — the VERY last one — I was like, ‘Wait a minute!’ and I dropped all those other tickets on the floor,” he said. The Prince George’s County resident had won the $50,000 third-tier prize by matching four white balls and the Power Ball. Then, his prize tripled because of the 3x Power Play multiplier drawn. After checking the numbers and the ticket multiple times, the realization set in that his fortune cookie had indeed helped him win a $150,000 fortune.
The automobile repair worker put his tickets away and didn’t tell anyone about his Lottery luck. He took a few hours off from work Monday and quietly came to Lottery headquarters in Baltimore to claim his prize. After receiving a round of applause from Lottery staff in the Winner’s Circle, however, Sulaiman posed with a big smile and his giant check for $150,000 and texted that photo to his wife. His prize will go in the bank for his retirement, Sulaiman said.
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