Baltimore’s “Birthday Queen,” accompanied by her daughter when she claimed her $50,000 prize, began to suspect she was the second Holiday Raffle Early Bird winner she realized the winning ticket was sold at her favorite store.
December has been a good month for a Baltimore woman: she celebrated her birthday mid-month, won on the Dec. 17 Pick 3 midday drawing by playing 8-8-8, and scored $50,000 as the second Early Bird winner in the Maryland Lottery Holiday Raffle.
When she claimed her prize on Dec. 17 at Lottery headquarters, she selected the alias “Birthday Queen” since December is her birthday month. It took over a week after the Dec. 8 Holiday Raffle drawing before she realized she had won.
“Birthday Queen” started to get an inclination she might have won in the Dec. 8 drawing when she returned to Moravia Shell Gas Station, at 5920 Moravia Road, where she bought the $20 ticket more than a month earlier on Nov. 11.
“I walked into the store and saw they sold a winning raffle ticket,” she said.
She was then filled with excitement, pondering the possibility she might be that winner. She went home, grabbed her ticket and confirmed she had the winning raffle number, 029641, in the second Early Bird drawing.
“I lost my voice because I screamed too loud. It was a dream come true,” she said.
The food service worker plans on using her prize for home improvement projects.
The celebration can continue for “Birthday Queen” as she remains eligible to win the $1 million prize in the final Holiday Raffle drawing on Jan. 2, 2026. Her ticket is not eligible for the last $50,000 Early Bird drawing on Dec. 22, but anyone else with a ticket is.
The Holiday Raffle tickets went on sale starting Nov. 3 with a maximum of 325,000 tickets to be sold, and there is still plenty of time to purchase a ticket before the next $50,000 Early Bird and the main $1 million drawings.
The tickets will remain on sale through Jan. 1, 2026, or until all 325,000 are sold, whichever comes first. In each drawing, the winning numbers are selected from the range of tickets that have been sold.
Dec. 21 is the last day to buy tickets that will be eligible for the Dec. 22 Early Bird drawing.
All Holiday Raffle tickets are good for the final drawing on Jan. 2, regardless of when they were bought. On Jan. 2, one winner will receive the top prize of $1 million, another 10 will pick up second-tier prizes of $100,000 each and a total of 10,000 prizes ranging from $50 to $500 will also be won.
Tickets are $20 and are available at any Maryland Lottery retailer. There are no numbers to choose; tickets are sold sequentially, with the first one being 000001 and the last one being 325000.
