BY CHRISTIAN SPENCER — A “lucky” man is the winner of $100,000 from the Maryland Lottery, but 7-Eleven employees at the area store are unaware of the prize winner.

An unnamed man identified as “Lucky Daddy” won the Lady Luck scratch-off game’s first top prize on Aug. 8. Store employees at 900 Chillum Road near Hyattsville said they had no idea their store had a grand prize-winning ticket.

Although there is not much information about the lottery winner, he is a married man whose son will have a secured college fund, according to the Maryland Lottery’s website.

“We allow players to remain anonymous,” said Carole Gentry, director of communications for Maryland’s Lottery and Gaming. “Sometimes people are very private. They don’t want to give out that information. It might be a surprise, or they live in a small town and they want their privacy protected.”

“This truly is a blessing,” the winner said via Maryland Lottery’s website. “I got my son and now I won big, which will help with his college fund.”

The game started July 24, just five days before “Lucky Daddy” won with the game numbers 332.

“It’s random,” Gentry said. “Sometimes people win right away, and sometimes it takes a while.” 

Each Lady Luck scratch-off costs $10 to play, and the prizes range from $10-$100,000 statewide. There are only 9 top-prize winning scratch-offs in total, one of them already redeemed by “Lucky Daddy.” But according to the Maryland Lottery, the probability of winning any prize is 1 in 3.24, which means if players were to purchase all of the tickets available in that game, approximately 1 in 3 of them would win a prize.

The winning ticket was also a win for the 7-Eleven location. The Prince George’s County store earned a $1,000 bonus from the Maryland Lottery.

The 7-Eleven is franchise owned, and the staff members who were working said they have no knowledge of the Lady Luck contest or the bonus prize.

“The bonus check will be given to the franchisee or the owner of the 7-Eleven,” Gentry said.

The store’s owner, Jaswinder Singh, was repeatedly unavailable for comment.