A Howard County woman out shopping for dinner is the latest FAST PLAY SLINGO® progressive jackpot winner. The Columbia resident hit for $32,694 on July 24. And, it’s not her first big win: she also won $25,000 playing Pick 5 back in 2022.
The player had no idea what was on her Thursday dinner menu, so she stopped at Wegmans in Columbia after work to pick up a few things. On her way out, she stopped at the Lottery vending machine to use an $18 voucher from previous Lottery play. She didn’t have enough for the $20 bingo scratch-off she wanted, so she added $20 and purchased the bingo ticket plus some FAST PLAY games, including a $3 FAST PLAY SLINGO® ticket.
When she scanned her games, she was confused by the message that appeared for the SLINGO® ticket. It said, “File Claim at Lottery Claim Center.”
“I didn’t know what that meant,” the winner said July 30 after claiming her prize at Lottery headquarters. “And, I didn’t want to get too excited.”
The health care worker waited until the following day and took her suspicious ticket to a convenience store. There a staff member scanned the ticket and told her she had to claim the prize at Lottery headquarters.
“I still wasn’t sure how much it was for, even though it said $32,693 on the front” she said. “I bought another SLINGO® game and the jackpot was reset and I thought, ‘Is this me, could it be me?’”
Then she read a news report saying a $32,694 winning FAST PLAY SLINGO® progressive jackpot ticket had been purchased at the Wegmans at 8855 McGaw Road in Columbia.
“I got really nervous and excited because I knew it was me, it has to be me!” she smiled.
She shared the news with a few family members and friends before claiming the prize on July 29, when she said she plans to use the winnings for some dental work, a new phone and will save the rest.
The winner is not new to good fortune. In 2022, during a promotion encouraging people to try the then-new Pick 5 game, she received a free 50 cent ticket that ended up being a $25,000 winner.
Some FAST PLAY games feature progressive jackpots. On these games, the progressive jackpot grows with the sale of each ticket until a progressive jackpot-winning ticket is sold. The current progressive jackpot amount is listed at the top of each ticket.
Wegmans shares in the wealth, as the store receives a $326.94 bonus for making the sale.
