Riverdale woman claims top prize on Bonus Match 5 drawing
A Riverdale woman is $50,000 richer after asking her father, a loyal Maryland Lottery player, to buy her a ticket to any Lottery game. The lucky lady was on the phone with her dad just as he was purchasing his regular assortment of games at the Riverdale Sunoco.
“It didn’t matter what game,” recalled the 23-year-old winner. “I just told him to get me a ticket, too.” Her obliging dad bought her a Bonus Match 5 ticket and then paid for his Lottery games.
He went on about his day and didn’t give the ticket to his daughter right away. In fact, the Sept. 29 drawing also came and went and neither of them checked the winning numbers until the next day.
“I checked and double checked, but I still wasn’t sure,” the man said. He went to a nearby retailer to scan the ticket and the message that appeared told him to come to Lottery headquarters in Baltimore to claim the prize. “That’s when I knew this was real,” he said.
When the lucky winner’s dad shared the good news with her, the Prince George’s County woman was overwhelmed. “It is incredible, out of all the tickets he bought, that only one was a winner,” the college student said. She attends a local university.
The fortunate player plans to spend her prize to pay off debt and help her family. After that, she said, she will treat herself. She intends to keep asking her lucky dad to buy her a ticket every now and then!
For selling the winning ticket, the Riverdale Sunoco located at 6551 Riverdale Road receives a $500 bonus from the Lottery.