Last-minute Powerball purchase pays $40,000
A La Plata woman gave in to a nagging urge last Wednesday night and is $40,000 richer because of it. The woman, who is not a regular Powerball winner, promised herself she’d buy a ticket for the $320 million drawing last Wednesday and promptly forgot. She was almost home that evening after running errands and remembered that she forgot to buy a ticket. The winner laughingly said, “I was thinking, ‘Ugh….I do not want to turn around. I really don’t want to go back to the store. I want to go home. That’s it…I’m not turning around!’” She then turned around and bought her ticket.
The woman, who chose to remain anonymous, said that she has subscriptions to Mega Millions and Multi-Match but very rarely plays other Lottery games. “When I saw how high Powerball was, I knew I had to buy a ticket,” she said. The family-oriented woman came to Lottery headquarters with her brother and sister-in-law this afternoon and the group laughed and cracked jokes through their entire visit. Her brother jumped in to the conversation during the winner’s interview and said, “I thought she was drunk when she called to tell me she’d won. Or there was something really, really wrong with her.” “No,” she chimed in, “this is really right!”
The 57-year-old winner owns a small business and has two “kids,” her Boston Terriers. In addition to making sure her dogs are happy, she said she will “spend some of the money on something nice for my three employees; I don’t know what I’d do without them.” The rest of the money will go into her business. Just before leaving for a celebratory lunch at the Capital Grille in Baltimore, the family took a picture of their large check with their camera and the check fell out of their hands. “Well,” her brother quipped, “the check didn’t bounce. That’s a relief!”
The winning ticket was purchased at Colonial Liquors, located at 6400 Crain Highway in LaPlata.