(CNN) 鈥� After nearly 10 years of playing the same lottery number combination, a $50,000 payday has finally arrived for a man in Maryland, lottery officials said.
The winner from Prince George鈥檚 County, who remained anonymous, won the big prize on May 28 after playing the Maryland Lottery鈥檚 Bonus Match 5 game, .
鈥淚 play the same numbers all the time, I鈥檝e been doing so for years,鈥� the man told officials from the Maryland Lottery鈥檚 headquarters in Baltimore.
He visited a liquor store in Temple Hills and bought a $4 ticket containing six lines 鈥� one of which included his usual combination of the numbers 5, 6, 8, 23 and 30, he said.
The winner, who is a retired printing press operator, says he chose four of the lines himself while the computer system randomly generated the remaining two lines.
He learned in disbelief the following day that he鈥檇 won the top prize using his special set of five digits, the Maryland Lottery reported.
As a bonus, the anonymous winner also won an additional $15 off of three numbers from another line that he鈥檇 selected himself.
He called his wife of 22 years immediately to share the good news, the news release said.
鈥淢any lottery players tell us that they have certain combinations of numbers that they use on a regular basis,鈥� Seth Elkin, a spokesman for Maryland Lottery and Gaming, told CNN in an email.
鈥淪ometimes it鈥檚 birthdates or house numbers or uniform numbers of their favorite athletes, and sometimes they鈥檝e just decided certain numbers feel 鈥榣ucky鈥� to them,鈥� Elkin said.
The winner says he plans to use the prize to pay bills and put the rest into savings.
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