A Baltimore “Birthday Girl” celebrated her special day by claiming an $825,000 Multi-Match jackpot win from the July 4 drawing. |
Baltimore resident wins big in July 4 drawing
A Baltimore grandmother may never look at a refrigerator or freezer again without thinking about cold cash – $825,000, to be exact. She won the $825,000 jackpot in the July 4 Multi-Match drawing.
The lucky winner dubbed herself the ‘Birthday Girl’ after claiming the prize at Lottery headquarters in Baltimore on her birthday, July 20.
The Lottery enthusiast, who said Multi-Match is her favorite game, has enjoyed an exciting couple of weeks. The retiree was visiting a friend in Cecil County for the Fourth of July holiday when a broken refrigerator forced her to go out for breakfast on the morning of July 4. Off she went to the Landhope Farms store located at 1252 Jacob Tome Memorial Highway in Port Deposit.
“I was starving, so I went to go get something to eat,” she said. The lucky lady decided to buy a Multi-Match ticket while waiting for her bacon, egg and cheese bagel to be made.
“I asked them if they sold Lottery tickets, and they pointed me to the kiosk, but I didn’t know how to use it,” she said. “They showed me where to put the money in and what to press.”
Concerned with having breakfast, she quickly stuffed her $2 Multi-Match ticket into her purse and didn’t think about it until the next day. The 60-something city resident checked the winning numbers on mdlottery.com as she drank a cup of coffee. Days passed before she truly believed what she saw.
“I said, ‘Oh, I have 16. Ok, there’s another one. Ok, there’s three in a row.’ They just kept coming. I thought I won $1,000,” she said. In fact, one of the three Quick Pick lines on her ticket matched all six numbers from the July 4 drawing: 2, 4, 16, 21, 27 and 34. She won a lot more than $1,000!
She took the ticket to another Lottery retailer and scanned it at the ticket checker. When the message she received from the machine didn’t tell her the amount of her prize, she asked a cashier about it.
“I said, ‘How much did I win? Is it $1,500?’ ” the lucky winner recalled. “And, she said to me, ‘Honey, you’d better sit down.’ ”
The store employees printed the winning numbers from the July 4 drawing and it all became clear: She is one of four Multi-Match jackpot winners this year and said she remains shocked at the amount of money she won. After a couple of tense weeks, lining up financial advice and trying to find an appropriate hiding place for the ticket, “Birthday Girl” was joined by a friend as she claimed the prize on her birthday.
“I had the ticket in my purse for a while, but I didn’t want to carry it around,” she said. “So then I hid it in a drawer. But, then I thought, ‘What if there’s a fire?’ So I put it in a plastic bag and put it in the freezer. But I was worried that the cold might do something to the ink, so I finally just put it in the basement.”
The lucky winner, who has a son and grandson, said the most she had ever won before on a Lottery ticket was $20. She decided to claim her prize as an annuity, which will be paid out in equal installments over a period of 25 years. After taxes, she will receive more than $21,800 a year.
“That’s going to be my retirement,” she said. “When I get my first check, I’m going to be with friends, party on a boat and celebrate all day.”
The Landhope Farms store will celebrate as well. For selling the lucky ticket, the Cecil County retailer will receive a $1,000 bonus from the Maryland Lottery.