BALTIMORE, MD — A 52-year-old man was cited for disorderly conduct Tuesday after allegedly refusing to leave a Baltimore parking authority office until staff accepted, as payment for a $52 parking ticket, a scratch-off lottery ticket that he insisted was “basically a winner” but that had, in fact, not been scratched and was therefore of indeterminate and most likely zero value.

Reginald Dwayne Foxworth reportedly approached the payment window at the Baltimore Parking Authority and attempted to settle his outstanding ticket by sliding an unscratched $5 scratch-off ticket across the counter, telling the clerk, “This is a winner, I can feel it, just run it.” When informed that the office does not accept lottery tickets, scratched or otherwise, Foxworth allegedly insisted that the clerk “didn’t understand how this works.”

A Gamble That Did Not Pay Off

Foxworth reportedly offered to scratch the ticket on the spot to prove its value, which staff declined to facilitate. He then allegedly refused to leave, scratching the ticket himself at the counter while a line formed behind him. The ticket, once scratched, was a non-winner. Foxworth reportedly stared at it for several seconds before saying, “Okay, but the next one,” and producing a second ticket.

“He had a whole stack of them. He wanted to keep going. He said, statistically, one of them had to hit. I told him that’s not how debt works. He told me that’s not how optimism works.” — Parking Authority clerk, name withheld

Police were called when Foxworth began scratching his third ticket. He was cited for disorderly conduct and escorted from the building. No tickets were winners. His JailReport.lol entry has been filed under WTF News. His parking ticket remains unpaid. Foxworth reportedly told officers on his way out that he “felt good about the fourth one.”