(Baltimore) — Angelo Contrino III said he has been dealing with sleepless nights and early mornings since last month, anticipating the conclusion of the Maryland Lottery's 2022 Ravens second-chance promotion.
The Pasadena resident was one of six finalists for a chance to win Ravens season tickets for 20 years. Today, as those finalists stood together on the club level at M&T Bank Stadium, Contrino was revealed as the "Seats for 20 Years" winner. The coveted prize includes two club-level tickets and a parking pass for every pre-season and regular-season home game for the next 20 years.
The big day began with the finalists taking a private tour of the stadium, which included visits to the postgame press room and team locker room. Once the tour was complete, the finalists were greeted by former Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith, who announced Contrino as the winner. After Smith congratulated the six finalists, the group watched as Contrino's name was displayed 100-feet wide across the stadium's Smartvision boards.
"I'm speechless — this is the prize of all prizes. This has been a dream of mine ever since the Lottery started this promotion," said Contrino, a 55-year-old maintenance supervisor, adding that he plans to use the tickets to share the excitement of Ravens football with family. "My son just retired from the Army and I'm planning to be right there with him at every game next season."
The six finalists were randomly selected from more than 818,000 entries for the "Seats for 20 Years" prize, and each of the finalists won $10,000. The other five finalists were: Theresa Bard from Elkton; Thomas Barker from Laurel; Tia Beverly from Baltimore; Bernard Lulay from Baltimore; and Ron Mullin from Grafton, W. Va.
For the 14th year in a row, the Maryland Lottery and the Baltimore Ravens teamed up to offer players scratch-offs and second-chance prizes. Players entered non-winning $2 Ravens X2 and $5 Ravens X5 scratch-off tickets for the chance to win cash and a variety of Ravens-themed prizes, including the "Seats for 20 Years," single-season ticket packages, and even the opportunity to take the field at M&T Bank Stadium for a chance to win additional prize money with this year's Pass for Cash contest. More than 2.8 million total entries were received during the promotion, which held six monthly drawings from August 2022 through January 2023.
Past winners of the "Seats for 20 Years" prize include Kim Feather from Pasadena; Dawn Brink from Stevensville; Vanessa Williams from Rosedale; Beth Bunch from Baltimore; Vernon Miller, Jr. from Bel Air; Tuesday Johnson from Germantown; Brenda Grier from Glen Burnie; Ariadna Bila from Gaithersburg; David Williams from Clinton; Umang Patel from Crofton; Lolita Little-Staten from Baltimore; Eric Hall from Cambridge; and Diane Heil from Annapolis.
While the Ravens second-chance promotion has concluded, there are still many prizes remaining to be claimed on both Ravens scratch-off tickets. The $5 Ravens ticket has four unclaimed $100,000 top prizes and more than 453,000 prizes between $5 and $10,000 remaining. The $2 scratch-off has two unclaimed $20,000 top prizes remaining and more than 259,000 prizes between $2 and $5,000 left on the ticket.
Since its inception in 1973, the Maryland Lottery has awarded more than $31.5 billion in prizes to Lottery players and more than $18.6 billion in Lottery revenue to the State of Maryland. One of Maryland's largest revenue sources, the Lottery supports important state programs and services including education, public safety and health, human resources and the environment. For more information, go to mdlottery.com. Please remember to play responsibly and within your budget. For confidential help or information about gambling problems, visit mdgamblinghelp.org or call 1-800-GAMBLER.
