School bus driver wins $5M scratch-off then goes about his workday

What would you do if you found out you won a $5 million lottery prize? For Maurice Williams, a Washington DC-area school bus driver, the answer was simple – he went about his work day.

Williams was on his way to work when he stopped at a 7-Eleven store in Hyattsville, Maryland, to cash in a $50 prize he had previously won on the same game, the $5,000,000 LUXE game. He used the winnings to purchase another ticket and sat in his car to play, according to the Maryland Lottery, but he almost didn't notice the fact that he had won the $5 million prize.

“I didn’t notice I had a matching number at first, until I scanned it,” Williams told the Maryland Lottery. “It’s crazy because the matching number was 59 and I just turned 59 the other day.”

When Williams scanned his ticket, it showed he won the game's top prize.

“I just sat there stuck, I mean, I couldn’t believe it,” Maurice told the Maryland Lottery. “I had to get my head straight.”

Williams called his mother and, after she shared in his excitement and reassured him that everything would be OK, he put the ticket away and went about his workday. On his break, he called the Maryland Lottery to set up an appointment to claim his prize.

What is Williams planning on doing with the prize money?

Williams told the Maryland Lottery he knows of one thing for certain he will do with his winnings – buy his mother a house.

The rest, he said, he will save and wait to make financial decisions until he has some time to deliberate.

What is the $5,000,000 LUXE scratch-off game?

According to the Maryland Lottery, the $5,000,000 LUXE scratch-off launched in February with three $5 million top prizes, with Williams having claimed the first one, meaning two more have yet to be claimed.

Also up for grabs are nine $200,000 prizes, 10 $50,000 prizes and hundreds of thousands of other prizes ranging from $50 to $10,000.

Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X @GabeHauari or email him at [email protected].