A Montgomery County woman stops by Harris Teeter a few times a week after work, sometimes to pick up a few groceries, other times to buy Lottery tickets, and sometimes for both. Lottery tickets were the only things on her shopping list on Feb. 16, but she ended up with a shopping cart full of cash, figuratively speaking that is.
Among her Lottery purchases was a $5 FAST PLAY Chili Pepper Payout progressive jackpot ticket, and it ended up winning her $158,107.
The Clarksburg resident said playing Lottery scratch-off and FAST PLAY games relaxes her. But relaxation quickly turned to anxiety when a scanned the ticket and discovered the win.
“The message said I was a winner, but I didn’t realize how much,” said the perplexed player. “I took it to the cashier who also confirmed the win, but not the amount.”
The FAST PLAY games are easy to play being that all you have to do is look at the ticket’s play area to determine if it’s a winner. And the progressive jackpot games have the winning amount printed right on the ticket. The anxious winner didn’t realize any of that right away. It took a visit to another retailer for her to see the magnitude of her prize.
“The other cashier pointed out how I had a matching number and that it was a progressive jackpot win,” she laughed a little. “Then he pointed to the $158,107 printed big as day right in front of my eyes.”
With a solid confirmation, the nervous winner headed home and shared the news with her children. Not wasting any time, she consulted a friend who instructed her check out mdlottery.com for details about claiming. She made an appointment and was at Lottery headquarters in Baltimore the following day.
The winner, who works in banking, shared with Lottery officials that the night before was restless.
“I was so anxious, I couldn’t sleep at all,” she said. She also square her finances and put the rest in savings.
The Harris Teeter at 22700 Sweet Shrub Drive in Clarksburg receives a bonus of $1,000.
The FAST PLAY Chili Pepper Payout progressive jackpot game has 15 progressive jackpots remaining after this win. The jackpot resets to $40,000 and will grow a little each time a non-jackpot winner is sold.
