A Prince George’s County woman can finally sleep now that she’s claimed the first $50,000 top prize on the new Cash Blast scratch-off. The big win came on July 7 after the Bowie resident purchased her Lottery games in Baltimore during her lunch break.
A human resources specialist, the winner plays the daily Pick numbers mostly, but she often enjoys some scratch games as well. Earlier in the week, she stopped at Simran Mart to do just that. A friend suggested she buy one of the newer scratch-off games, so she bought four of the $5 Cash Blast tickets, which first became available on June 23. She scratched them later at home.
When the player scanned her tickets, the fourth one showed as a $50,000 winner. She couldn’t sleep Monday night following her win. She was just too excited.
“My stomach was in knots,” she shared when she claimed the prize July 8. “I feel so overjoyed and overwhelmed.”
Of her friend, she said, “He watches the prizes remaining and knew all the top prizes were available. I’m so glad I listened to him.”
“I sent a screenshot to my friend, so he could see his advice paid off,” she smiled. “I said, ‘How many zeroes do you see after the comma?’”
The winner’s friend accompanied her to claim the prize on July 8 at Lottery headquarters in Baltimore.
“I always tell her to try to get the new ones,” he said. “You’ll have a better chance at finding the big ones.”
While the odds of winning on scratch-off tickets don’t change, the number of top-tier prizes available is at its maximum when the game is new.
When Cash Blast tickets hit shelves on June 23, the game had eight $50,000 top prizes. The Bowie winner’s prize reduced that total to seven. In addition, the game has 12 prizes at the $5,000 second-tier level and hundreds of thousands of prizes ranging from $10 to $1,000.
Also celebrating is Simran Mart at 2901 Garrison Boulevard in Baltimore, which receives a $500 bonus for selling the top-prize winning scratch-off ticket.
