Lottery player buys 25 tickets with the same numbers. They’re all winners in Maryland

A lottery player used the same set of numbers on all 25 tickets she bought for one drawing in Maryland.

They were all winners.

The Prince George’s County mom won $576,900 on her tickets for the July 21 Bonus Match 5 drawing, the Maryland Lottery said in a July 24 news release.

“I’ll be happy just to have my house paid off,” she told lottery officials.

She said she normally checks her tickets in the morning, but this time she decided to look right before bed. When she saw she had won, she called her son, then went to sleep.

She said someone once told her she should try buying multiple tickets with the same numbers, and she took that advice to heart.

She didn’t win 25 top prizes of $50,000 because the prize pool tops out at $600,000, according to lottery officials.

“If more than 12 top-prize winning tickets are sold, the prize pool is divided equally among the winning tickets,” the lottery said.

One other person used the same combination of numbers and won as well, so the woman won just under the full prize amount, officials said.

“That was a big disappointment, but that’s on me,” the retired federal government worker told lottery officials, as she didn’t know about the limit. “I’m very happy.”

Other than paying off her house, she plans to give some of the money to her sister, and any leftover funds may go toward a vacation, she said.

Prince George’s County lies along the eastern border of Washington, D.C.

This story was originally published July 25, 2024 at 5:25 PM with the headline "Lottery player buys 25 tickets with the same numbers. They’re all winners in Maryland."