$100K Lottery Win Doesn't Change Life For Mount Airy Man
COURTNEY MABEUS
The Frederick News-Post
MOUNT AIRY, Md. (AP) -- Francis Przybylek said he'd retire if he hit the jackpot.
A little more than a year after the Mount Airy man won $100,000 from a Maryland Lottery scratch-off ticket, which he picked up at a Safeway near his home, the 69-year-old is still selling cars.
"Now I'm saying, if I hit it again, I'm going to retire," Przybylek said, sitting on the deck behind his home waiting to head to work on a recent Monday.
On that fateful day in July 2011, Przybylek already had some luck in his corner. After a $5 scratch-off ticket yielded a $100 win, he funneled some of that cash back into the lottery by buying two more $10 scratch-offs.
The first ticket was a dud. The second ticket is history.
"I didn't know what to do," Przybylek said. "I was so excited."
To hear Przybylek tell it, his win hasn't had the life-altering effect he initially thought it might.
Przybylek put a new roof on his house -- maybe a more expensive one than he would have originally picked, he said. He also bought his wife, Diane, a piano, gave a little money to his three sons and recently took a four-day trip with his wife to Annapolis.
His wife is a pediatric nurse who also still works.
The couple would like to plan a cruise for sometime next year, he added.
"I put a roof on the house, put a little bit of it away, paid some bills," Przybylek said. "I still have bills."
Przybylek worked in production in the newspaper industry until 2002. He's sold cars ever since as a retirement job.
Since he won last year, he estimates that he plays about $100 a week on scratch-offs. It's more than what he used to play, but he says he doesn't really keep track.
"If I kept track, I probably wouldn't do it as much," he said.
For Przybylek, the lottery is fun -- no different than going out and paying for 18 holes of golf "or a million other things you can waste your money on," he said. "You can have fun with it, or you can abuse it."
Przybylek said he feels lucky to have been able to be in a position financially in which he could play the lottery. He's worked hard, but he's still holding out hope for another $100,000 winning ticket, he said.
Przybylek still has the golden touch: In late July he won $100, and he's hit other prizes here and there, he said.
"It's going to happen," Przybylek said. "I don't know when, but it's going to happen."
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
