Finds top prize on Bingo Gold game
Good golly, what a win! A Baltimore grandmother of nine who bought a second Maryland Lottery Bingo Gold scratch-off only because the clerk asked her to do so still can’t believe her luck. She won one of the game’s $100,000 top prizes!
The longtime federal government employee stopped at the Maryland Business Enterprise Program (MDBEP) shop #60 at 1500 Woodlawn Drive in Baltimore on a Friday just as the clerk was finishing his last day on the job. He told her, “The new guy’s coming in at 12:30 to take inventory and I have all of these scratch-offs to sell,” she recalled. The scratch-off fan agreed to try her luck with one $10 Bingo Gold game.
“I scratched that one and I checked it on the scanner,” she said. “It was not a winner.”
She agreed to buy one more game and quickly scanned it using the store’s ticket checker. To her surprise, it said “Cash at Lottery.” The lucky woman hurried back to her office and scratched off the game’s eight bingo play cards so she could quietly determine the size of her prize.
“I didn’t believe it!” said the mother of four. Her biggest wins to date were $500 and $5,000. The loyal player showed the game to a co-worker, who confirmed the win. She then called one of her children to share the good news. “I was thrown for a loop!”
The happy player signed her winning ticket and hid it in her purse inside an envelope containing her phone bill. The scratch-off remained there until she pulled the envelope out Monday morning at Lottery headquarters in Baltimore.
The 70-something winner has no immediate plans for her prize other than putting it into the bank. She found the first of six top-prize winning tickets in the $10 game, which went on sale Aug. 22. The game still has 15 unclaimed $10,000 prizes in addition to thousands of other prizes ranging from $10 to $1,000.
Also celebrating in her win will be the Lottery retailer. For selling a top-prize ticket in the game, MDBEP shop #60 will receive a $1,000 bonus from the Lottery.