For years, a Maryland dad followed the exact same lottery routine every single week. Twice a week, he played the same set of numbers in the Multi-Match lottery game. And like always, he usually scanned his ticket quickly to see if he had won anything. But one small change completely altered his life. According to PEOPLE, the man — who chose the nickname “Multi-Match Maniac” to stay anonymous — decided to manually check the winning numbers after the April 16 drawing instead of scanning the ticket like he normally did. That decision led to a moment he could barely believe. “I’m looking at the numbers and looking at my ticket. I thought, this can’t be true,” he recalled, as quoted by PEOPLE. The numbers on his ticket matched perfectly: 02-06-08-12-29-38. That exact combination earned him the game’s top jackpot prize of $570,000. How did the man finally win the lottery after years of trying? According to PEOPLE, the Ellicott City resident had been playing the same numbers twice a week for years. Ironically, the time he finally won was also the time he broke his normal routine. Instead of using the lottery scanner, he checked the numbers himself and immediately realised something massive had happened. The shock did not wear off quickly.Why did the lottery winner wait nearly a month to claim the prize? PEOPLE reports that the day after discovering the win, the man visited a local lottery retailer to cash in the ticket. That is when he learned the prize was too large to be claimed there. Instead of feeling relaxed, the winner admitted the situation made him panic. He quickly signed the ticket and hid it safely away. For nearly 30 days, he reportedly dealt with anxiety and recurring nightmares about losing the ticket before finally visiting lottery headquarters to officially claim the prize. He ultimately chose the $320,000 cash option.What does the lottery winner plan to do with the money? While many lottery winners dream about luxury purchases, this father already knew exactly where a large part of the money would go. His daughter’s college tuition. “That’s my favorite part of all of this,” he said, according to PEOPLE. The man also shared that he plans to save and invest some of the remaining money.What were the winning lottery numbers? The winning numbers for the April 16 Multi-Match drawing were: 02-06-08-12-29-38 According to PEOPLE, 15 other players won secondary prizes of $1,000 by matching five out of six numbers, while another player won $2,000 after matching 10 of 18 total numbers on the ticket.