Her most recent trip to the grocery store left her one night short of family dinners, a mother of three told Lottery officials, so she made an executive decision to pick up subs.
She soon discovered that the cost of her food order was more than covered by the $100,000 prize hiding in the 50 Years! scratch-off she added to her purchase.
The Charles County resident said she had no intention of buying an instant ticket that night at Wawa #565 in Waldorf. “It was my daughter who mentioned it,” she explained. “She enjoys cleaning up after I scratch tickets, and hitting me up for presents when I win.”
With her family’s dinner in hand, the 38-year-old approached the store’s self-serve vending machine with her mind on a specific game.
“My sister is an avid Lottery player,” the winner said. “She was telling me a few days before how her co-worker won big playing the new anniversary ticket, so that’s the one I wanted.” Happily, the store at 11505 Berry Road had the 50 Years! game for sale.
Scratching off her $50 instant ticket later that evening, the Waldorf woman found herself in shock. “I saw a symbol that the rules said was an automatic $100,000 win. I knew it couldn’t be true, so I studied every inch of the ticket to see if I could find other rules that made it not a winner, but everything looked right.”
Still in doubt, she downloaded the Lottery app to end any confusion. “My husband was sure that I was wrong, but the Lottery app convinced us both. We won $100,000!”
The lucky lady said she hasn’t slept much since the big win. “I just keep thinking about it, about how blessed we are. I am so grateful to God for this. We will be doing good things with this money.”
The 50 Years! game went on sale in February, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Maryland Lottery. This $100,000 second-tier win is the first one claimed, leaving eight still in circulation. Two of the game’s $5 million top-prize winning instant tickets are also available along with five $50,000 prizes and 77 $10,000 prizes.
