Claims $30,000 top prize on scratch-off
A 55-year-old Baltimore woman enjoyed two surprises after buying a Bag To$$ Bucks scratch-off. First, the grateful woman discovered she had a winning instant ticket and then learned it was worth a lot more than she thought!
The $30,000 top-prize winner purchased the scratch-off, along with three other instant tickets, two weeks ago while getting her daily Pick 3 and Pick 4 tickets at Bottle & Cork Liquors in Towson. She didn’t scratch the $3 game until days later, revealing what she thought was a welcome $100 prize.
“I was running to get my mother something to eat, but I had no cash of my own,” she said. “I figured I would cash the $100 winning ticket so I could also get something for myself.”
However, when she scanned the instant ticket, it showed a much higher prize than $100. The scratch-off was worth $30,000! “I missed counting the points for one number,” said the happy winner.
In the Bag To$$ Bucks game, a player reveals matching throws on the bag toss board and then adds up the points for each match. She thought her points totaled 18, giving her a $100 win. However, she missed a match worth three additional points, which increased her prize to $30,000.
“The cashier had to come around to show me,” she said, smiling. “I still can’t believe it is actually $30,000.”
The lucky woman is her mother’s caregiver. She immediately put away the instant ticket and flew home to tell her mom the good news and share the excitement. The lucky player plans to spend part of her prize on leasing an apartment to share with her mother. She will also use her windfall for car payments and her mother’s medical bills.
Celebrating in her Lottery luck is the retailer that sold the winning instant ticket. Bottle & Cork Liquors located at 6867 Loch Raven Boulevard in Towson will receive a $300 bonus from the Lottery for selling a top-prize winning scratch-off of $20,000 or more. The bonus is equal to 1 percent of the prize.