North Potomac man wins $8,888 in Back to the Future lottery promotion, uses prize for cruise

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NORTH POTOMAC, Md. — A North Potomac resident is heading to the Caribbean thanks to an $8,888 prize he won in the Maryland Lottery’s Back to the Future second-chance promotion.

Paul Cohen claimed the top prize on July 18, saying the amount initially puzzled him until he connected it to the famous movie’s time-travel speed.

“I didn’t understand the $8,888 and then I figured it out,” Cohen said with a laugh, referring to the 88 miles per hour speed required for time travel in the film.

Cohen, a retired driver and longtime fan of the 1985 film, said he’s watched Back to the Future over 100 times. The win comes just in time to cover the full cost of a cruise he had already booked to the Bahamas and the Caribbean.

“This pays for the whole cruise,”…