These “Giant Winners” from Gaithersburg plan to pay bills with their prize on the Holiday Gold scratch-off. |
Loyal Lottery players find big win with Holiday Gold game
A Montgomery County grandmother of eight certainly bagged a valuable item at her neighborhood Giant grocery last week. The avid scratch-off fan brought home a Holiday Gold instant ticket that delivered the game’s second $50,000 top prize.
“I’ve been playing this scratch-off for a minute,” said the happy retiree, who researches the status of Lottery scratch-offs to see which ones are new and have unclaimed top prizes. “My palm was itching all week,” she said, explaining that an encounter with Lottery luck usually follows. “I went to the grocery and bought two of them. When I got home, I said, ‘Let me go ahead and scratch them.’”
The Gaithersburg mother of four adult children found no prize on the first $5 Holiday Gold scratch-off. “On the second one, I saw a candy cane [symbol] and thought ‘Oh, I won $5,000.’ I looked again and said, ‘Oh no, that’s more than $5,000!’” Players who reveal a candy cane symbol in the Holiday Gold game win the prize beneath the symbol. Her prize was $50,000!
Her husband, who is a loyal Lottery draw game player, always rechecks her scratch-offs. When she handed the Holiday Gold game to him, the paving company employee was on an important phone call and didn’t pay much attention to the ticket — at first.
“She always gives me the scratch-offs to look at because one time she thought it was a $5 prize and it was $50,” said the second half of the “Giant Winners” team. He soon realized she won $50,000. “At this point, I’m not even paying attention to the phone call!”
The “Giant Winners” plan to pay bills with their prize and the wife, who is a retired mental health professional, may take a trip to visit a distant family member. This is their first big win but not their last, the pair said. “We’ll be back!” vowed the wife.
Their lucky Lottery retailer is Giant #368 located at 842 Muddy Branch Road in Gaithersburg. For selling a top-prize winning scratch-off in the game, the Montgomery County grocery earns a $500 bonus from the Lottery.
The Holiday Gold game still has six unclaimed $50,000 top prizes. The game is one of five holiday scratch-offs that offer a chance to make your holidays instantly better. Enter non-winning holiday games into your My Lottery Rewards account for the chance to win more than $500,000 in cash prizes, or $300 worth of scratch-offs, or a warehouse dash trip to Chicago. Four winners will get to dash for 90 seconds through a warehouse and fill their shopping carts with electronics, housewares and more. Get details on the Holiday Cash & Dash second-chance promotion here.