A pair of construction workers were heading to the site to start their day, but that would quickly change after a coffee and donut run.
It was a weekend workday and the two men, a Hagerstown resident and a Frederick resident, stopped to prepare for work.
Both men had agreed that the Frederick resident would buy iced coffee and donuts and the Hagerstown resident would by each of them a scratch-off ticket to play.
The Hagerstown man, nicknamed “Mr. Papagiorgio”, had a history with scratch-offs. Instead of buying them two $10 tickets, he bought each of them a $20 100x The Cash scratch-off.
“We pulled in and I said, ‘Let’s scratch these things,’” “Mr. Papagiorgio” recalls telling his coworker. “Let’s see if we can retire early.”
His scratch-off, unfortunately, was a not a winner, but he then looked at his co-worker.
He was frozen in place, scratch-off in hand.
The very last number in the last row matched a winning number for the $1 million prize.
“He goes ghost white and said, ‘Did we win one million dollars?’” recalled “Mr. Papagiorgio,” who confirmed the win and reacted by pounding happily on the steering wheel and leaping out of the vehicle to shout with joy. “I screamed ‘woo’ and some random guys were walking by and they screamed, ‘woo’ too!’”
Both of the men called their wives and one of their bosses, who gave them permission to call it quits before their day even started.
They planned to split the prize and went home to celebrate with 18 rounds of golf.
The Frederick man plans to pay bills with his half of the winnings and set funds aside for his son's college education.
Mr. Papagiorgio is going to use his winnings to plan for his retirement and make good on a promise he made to his wife.
“I think I owe my wife a honeymoon!”
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