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Ohio recruiter wins $3,000 on game show

A newly promoted staff noncommissioned officer with Recruiting Station Cleveland won $3,067, thanks to the Ohio Lottery.

Staff Sgt. John Chenoweth, a recruiter at Recruiting Sub Station Mentor, Ohio, won the money on the lottery’s “Make Me Famous, Make Me Rich” television game show.

Chenoweth, 28, walked next door to his RSS recently to a check-cashing business that also sells sodas, candy and lottery tickets and bought a random scratch-off ticket, he said.

The ticket the cashier selected for Chenoweth’s $2 was a “Make Me Famous, Make Me Rich Extended Play” instant ticket. The player scratches the card to reveal a possible instant cash win or, “if you get three [boxes on the ticket] that say ‘make me rich,’ you can send your name in” along with the ticket to try for a spot on the game show, Chenoweth said.

According to the show’s Web site, the staff draws 30 contestants for each show, which features 15 players in each of two rounds. Chenoweth’s name was drawn from about 15,000 entries, he said.

Being picked was a surprise, he said, especially since another Marine in his office had previously submitted his ticket to the show, but his name was never drawn.

Chenoweth and his wife traveled to Columbus, Ohio, for the Feb. 13 taping of the show. The Feb. 24 episode shows Chenoweth — a sergeant at the time — in his dress blues. He was promoted to staff sergeant on March 1.