Baltimore winner reports prize arrives at perfect time
A Baltimore caregiver told Lottery officials this week that she has made playing her daily numbers almost as much a part of her life as taking care of the sick. Her persistence and dedication to both the Lottery and her career were rewarded recently with a $50,000 Pick 5 top-prize win.
“I stopped at a grocery store to scan my tickets on the way in to work,” the 51-year-old city resident explained. “I had five or six, and they were all non-winners, or so I thought.” It turns out that she so expected the scanner to report the final ticket was a non-winner that she barely looked at it as she ran the ticket through. If not for a co-worker, she might never have realized her mistake.
Having pocketed her non-winning Lottery tickets, the avid player retrieved them once she arrived at work with plans to toss them. “I stepped away for a few minutes and my friend noticed that one of the tickets had a number combination that we’d been talking about recently. She scanned it on her Lottery app and it came up a big winner. When I returned, she told me and I was blown away.”
Amazingly enough, the winning quick-pick ticket in the July 19 midday drawing was unique among her other tickets in more than one way. “I almost always buy Pick 5 tickets for 25 cents, so I figured my winner was $2,500.” More than happy with the prize she expected, the loyal player looked closely and saw that her lucky ticket had in fact been a $1 straight-bet purchase, which made her win worth $50,000. “It was an amazing moment.”
Giant #108 at 6340 York Road in Baltimore supplied the Pick 5 ticket that has brought such a smile to our lucky winner’s face. The good folks there are smiling, too. Management will receive a $500 bonus from the Lottery for selling the lucky ticket.
As she was leaving Lottery headquarters, the happy woman shared her plans for her big prize. She admitted, “I’ve been taking care of people for so long, it’ll be nice to take care of myself a little bit.”
