Lottery player wins big on ticket she bought as ‘pick-me-up’ after relative’s death
With the death of a “beloved relative” on Christmas, a Maryland woman was looking for a change of pace.
Then, as the Pikesville woman browsed at a grocery store, a lottery vending machine caught her eye, Maryland Lottery officials said in a Jan. 10 news release.
Though she doesn’t often buy lottery tickets, she told lottery officials she “thought that a scratch-off might be a nice pick-me-up.”
“It might get me out of the mood I was in,” the woman said, per the release.
She bought a $20 Millionaire’s Club ticket with her heart set on a $1 million top prize, lottery officials said.
“I figured that if I was looking for something to change how I was feeling, I might as well go big,” she told lottery officials.
The woman scratched her ticket and learned she won $50,000, lottery officials said.
Even though “that $1 million dream eluded her,” she was astonished by her winning ticket.
“I sat in my car just staring at it,” the woman said in the release. “I looked in the rearview window and my eyes were as wide as they’ve ever been and my jaw was hanging open. I could not believe what was happening.”
The woman told lottery officials she plans to spend her winnings to help those affected by the death of her relative.
Pikesville is about a 15-mile drive northwest from Baltimore.
This story was originally published January 10, 2025 at 2:21 PM with the headline "Lottery player wins big on ticket she bought as ‘pick-me-up’ after relative’s death."
