(Baltimore) – Make room for two more people on the 2009 list of Mega Millions winners in Maryland. While the names of those people will remain unknown until they claim their prizes, what is known is that they’ve joined a large and happy group – a group that seems to grow every week.

Lottery officials reported this morning that two local players won the Mega Millions second-tier prize of $250,000 in Tuesday night’s drawing. This raises the count of Mega Millions $250,000 winners in July alone to six. Since January, Maryland has had 23 second-tier Mega Millions winners.

“Even in the best of economic times, $250,000 is a lot of money,” said Lottery Director Buddy Roogow. “While the size of the jackpot may be the big eye-catcher, these ‘lesser’ prizes are making a lot of people around Maryland happy,” Roogow concluded.

The popular game’s second-tier prize is won by matching the first five of the six winning numbers drawn. Director Roogow added that along with the 23 winners of $250,000 so far this year, 119 players have won third-tier Mega Millions prizes of $10,000.