Small wins lead to purchase of instant ticket with big prize
A loyal Maryland Lottery player regularly participates in a workplace jackpot pool, but the chance purchase of a Gold Rush X50 scratch-off that won her a small fortune.
“Thankful & Grateful,” who lives in Clinton, claimed a $50,000 prize on the game at Maryland Lottery headquarters in Baltimore after a run of good luck. The 61-year-old attributes her winning streak to the Washington Redskins shirt she wears during football season.
“It’s a lucky jersey,” she said. “The Cowboys lost, the Redskins won and I won!”
She primarily plays Lottery games with her workplace pool, which buys Mega Millions and Powerball tickets for each drawing. Her lucky solo win occurred when the Prince George’s County woman decided to buy a scratch-off with $10 she had left after a routine shopping excursion.
She bought a $10 scratch-off from Giant #123 in Camp Springs and won $10! The player cashed in the instant ticket and bought a $10 The Price Is Right® scratch-off. It, too, won $10. She cashed in that prize and bought the Gold Rush X50 instant ticket. When the lucky lady scratched it off, she revealed a $1,000 box with a X50 gold bar, making the prize $50,000.
The stunned player double-checked her win by scanning the scratch-off prize check area with the Maryland Lottery app on her smartphone. Confirmed: a $50,000 winner! She still couldn’t believe it, so she asked one of her jackpot pool friends to look at the message on her phone to confirm the win again.
“I was shocked. I said to them, ‘I’m sorry, but I get to go to Baltimore before you!’ ”
The story of her win is exciting but “Thankful & Grateful” has fairly mundane plans for the cash: “It’s all going to pay bills.”
This big win isn’t the first time “Thankful & Grateful” had a December Lottery winning streak. A few years back, she bought a scratch-off that paid out $3,000 one week and did the same thing a week later.
She found her lucky Gold Rush X50 ticket at Giant #123 located at 7074 Allentown Road in Prince George’s County. The game went on sale in May and has three unclaimed $100,000 top prizes, five more $50,000 prizes and 11 $10,000 prizes remaining.