“Faithful Grandmother,” a longtime Maryland Lottery player from Annapolis, shows off her winnings from an April 22 progressive jackpot win on the FAST PLAY game Casino Royale Slots.
Chance stop at Maryland Lottery vending machine yields hot FAST PLAY ticket
A grandmother from Annapolis was reduced briefly to tears of joy April 26 at Maryland Lottery headquarters in Baltimore as she recounted finding out she had won nearly a quarter of a million dollars on a Maryland Lottery FAST PLAY ticket.
“This is real!” she said with more than a hint of disbelief still in her voice. She is going by the name “Faithful Grandmother” to tell her story.
It was real, though overwhelming, so a daughter who accompanied her to claim the prize helped describe the series of events.
“She called me and said, ‘I think I won the progressive jackpot,’” the daughter recounted, adding, “She was so calm.” “Faithful Grandmother” is an emotional person, so being calm in a situation involving a win of $229,680 wasn’t necessarily expected.
The daughter packed up her son that day, April 22, and drove to her mom’s house, where they double checked the ticket, a $10 Casino Royale Slots game. It looked like a big winner. Even so, they went to a lottery retailer and checked again. Sure enough: it was the latest progressive jackpot winner for the game.
Earlier that day, “Faithful Grandmother” had gone to the Royal Farms at 424 6th Street in Annapolis to get some of the chain’s Maryland-famous chicken.
“They know what I want. Thighs,” she said. While waiting for her order, she figured she would pick up a few Lottery tickets at the vending machine. Among them was the big winner, but she had chicken on her mind, so she didn’t find out until after she got home. That when the excitement started.
An avid Lottery player, “Faithful Grandmother” once used scratch-off tickets to build a house of cards, pondering the possibility she would one day win enough to buy a house. While she did end up winning enough, now she’s not necessarily sure that’s what she wants to do with the money.
“I haven’t thought about it. I’m still in shock,” she said, “But I’m going to enjoy life. I’m just so happy and grateful.”
The grandmother went on to say “there are no words in the dictionary” to describe her happiness.
One thing she said is certain, and that is she will be helping out her grandchildren.
The Royal Farms where she bought the ticket receives a $1,000 bonus from the Lottery for selling a jackpot-winning ticket worth $100,000 or more.
Since the Casino Royale Slots game started on Jan. 2, 2023, there have been four other winners in Capitol Heights, Damascus, Reisterstown and Silver Spring. There are 25 progressive jackpots remaining on the game, which resets to $100,000 after each one hits. The progressive jackpot grows with each sale until a winning ticket is sold.
