Claims top prize on $3 scratch-off
“I refused to believe it,” a Howard County woman told Lottery officials when asked how she reacted after uncovering a $30,000 scratch-off prize. The top-prize win, which is the fourth of eight that the popular SKEE-BALL® instant ticket has offered since its debut in March, turned her life upside down in the happiest kind of way.
The retired school employee has two favorite pastimes, playing instant tickets and playing bingo. The Ellicott City resident was buying groceries last week at a local market when she decided to add an instant ticket to her list.
“I saw that the store had SKEE-BALL, which is one of my favorites,” said the 74-year-old. When she returned home, the Lottery mayhem began.
“I was sure that someone was playing a joke on me, that I was being fooled.” Adding up the points she “scored” on her SKEE-BALL game again and again, she kept arriving at the same conclusion. The loyal player decided to call for reinforcements.
“My daughter knows these games, I knew she could check it for me so I took a moment to slow my breathing and called her. I was very excited, you see.” After sharing her news and sending a picture of the instant ticket to her daughter, our winner then had to calm her daughter down. This good fortune was followed by several nights of little sleep. “It was nervousness, but mostly excitement,” our winner admitted.
The $30,000 worth of SKEE-BALL cash will mostly go toward medical bills, with plenty left over to fund her weekly night of bingo fun. The store that provided the lucky instant ticket, International Food Market at 8722 Town & Country Boulevard in Ellicott City, will receive a $300 bonus – equal to 1% of the total prize – from the Lottery for selling the top-prize winning scratch-off.
