Last-Minute Lottery Purchase Before Storm Leads to Big Win
The Jan. 21 snowstorm blew in a blizzard of bucks for a Suitland woman, who rushed out just before the first flakes coated the ground to buy Maryland Lottery games. She didn’t know it then, but her last-minute purchase before the storm hit included a $50,000 prize-winning Bonus Match 5 ticket!
“This money is getting me out of the weeds,” she said. “This is a dream come true.”
Her good fortune began when her 46-year-old boyfriend, who works in construction at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, left her $20 to buy the games for the two of them. “When that snow started coming down, I went and spent $14 of that money,” she said. The two loyal players didn’t want to miss playing Lottery games if the storm kept them housebound.
“I don’t play Bonus Match 5 normally,” said the Prince George’s County resident, “but I knew I needed a chance to win a big game. I played two numbers and got one Bonus Match 5 ticket.” At the clerk’s suggestion, she added a Mega Millions ticket to her purchase.
Dubbed a lucky lady by her friends, the Washington, D.C. legal secretary has won many things over the years other than money. Her only Maryland Lottery win of $800 happened several years ago. The mother of three adult children and grandmother of one, she enjoys reading winners’ stories on the Lottery website and does so regularly.
“I read everybody’s story,” said the 49-year-old. “I’m always so happy for everyone else. Yesterday, I went online and I saw the story where someone in Prince George’s County had won Bonus Match 5.”
That story began: “Did you brave the snow and purchase a Bonus Match 5 ticket in Morningside for the Tuesday, Jan. 21 drawing?” She had! “When I saw where the ticket was purchased, I thought, ‘That was me!’ ”
She grabbed her purse and pulled out the ticket. “The numbers were all laid out in a line,” she said. When the couple arrived at Lottery headquarters in Baltimore the next day, they were all smiles. They plan to use the winnings to pay bills, make a down payment on a home, help their children financially and boost their savings accounts.
Our winner bought her ticket at the Suitland Road Chevron at 6500 Suitland Road in Morningside.