“Blessed Grandma” of Smithsburg found another reason to be grateful – a $100,000 scratch-off win! |
Reinvested a win into purchase of top-prize instant ticket
A Western Maryland grandmother of four saw her Maryland Lottery loyalty rewarded 10,000 times when she turned a $10 scratch-off win into a $100,000 payday.
The Smithsburg resident and her husband are avid Lottery fans who take a chance each week on Powerball, Mega Millions and Cash4Life. “Blessed Grandma” also plays a scratch-off once or twice a week.
“I tend to get $10 tickets,” she said.
The Washington, D.C., area worker was fueling up her vehicle at AC&T #270 in Smithsburg about a week ago when she decided to cash in a winning scratch-off. “Blessed Grandma” was in the right place at the right time to intersect with Lottery luck!
“I’ve played the Maximum Money game before and I’ve had a couple of $50 winners,” she said. Seeing that the Lottery retailer had the game available, she reinvested a $10 win into a Maximum Money scratch-off and took it out to her vehicle. “There are always a lot of cars in the parking lot so I scratched it off in my car,” she said. Her $100,000 win left her astonished.
“I was really excited, I couldn’t believe it,” “Blessed Grandma” said. “I must have looked at it three times. I decided to go home and have a sanity check.”
The Washington County woman called out to her husband when she got home that she had something to show him. He recalls the moment vividly.
“What, did we win the Lottery?” he asked, seeing a look on her face that he’d never seen before. “Yes, we did!” she exclaimed and showed him the winning scratch-off. The couple hid the lucky instant ticket at home until they could claim their prize at Lottery headquarters in Baltimore.
The parents of four adult children, the two say they will spend the prize paying off bills, helping a family member, spoiling their grandchildren and, possibly, enjoying a vacation. The high school sweethearts have not had a vacation in about a decade, they said, because their family responsibilities and work schedules are so demanding.
Their lucky retailer also benefits from their win. AC&T, located at 22507 Jefferson Boulevard in Smithsburg, earns a $1,000 bonus from the Lottery for selling the top-prize scratch-off in the game. Maximum Money still has five more $100,000 unclaimed top prizes remaining along with 19 $10,000 prizes and thousands of others ranging from $10 to $1,000.