Lottery headquarters saw an unlikely coincidence on Aug. 1 when two people who didn’t know each other, one from North Carolina and the other from Montgomery County, showed up to claim $30,000 top prizes on the same $3 game, Loteria.
The game went on sale Dec. 28, 2023 and in the months since then, four of the original eight top prizes were claimed. Then came Aug. 1, and serendipitously, two people reduced the number of remaining top prizes to two by claiming within minutes of each other. Both chose to remain anonymous.
One of the winners, a woman from Gaithersburg, bought her winning ticket at Germantown Wine and Beer at 19590 Frederick Road, a sister at her side. They scratched the ticket on the spot, realized it was a winner, then made a stealthy exit. Aside from her sisters, the winner has kept the big win a secret.
Happy with the money, she said it gives her a chance to do a financial reset, and have a fancy dinner with family.
“It’s something you didn’t have yesterday, so it’s pretty cool,” she said.
The other winner, a woman, who lives in a suburb of Fayetteville, N.C., was visiting family in Prince George’s County and bought her ticket at Keller’s Market at 15624 Livingston Road in Accokeek.
An infrequent lottery player, the winner decided to buy tickets for a sick relative who enjoys playing and bought tickets for herself as well, which made the win melancholic. After she scratched the ticket and realized it was a winner, she drove back to the store and asked the clerk to check it.
“She said, ‘Make sure you sign the back,’” the winner said.
At the time she claimed the prize, she said she had no specific plans for the prize money.
Germantown Wine and Beer and Keller’s Market each receive a bonus of $300, equal to 1% of the prize amount for the game.
In addition to the two remaining top prizes, Loteria has tens of thousands of unclaimed prizes ranging from $3 to $5,000.
