Claims first $50,000 top prize on new Diamonds & Dollars game
A chance purchase of a new green Maryland Lottery scratch-off led to a bevy of green surprises for an Essex grandmother, who is quietly celebrating her discovery of the first $50,000 top prize on the new Diamonds & Dollars game. The retired department store clerk credits her win to the eye-catching nature of the new $5 instant ticket.
“It’s green, and green is my favorite color,” said the winner.
The 71-year-old purchased the lucky ticket along with her weekly jackpot tickets from Royal Farms #029 at 627 Mace Avenue in Baltimore. She waited until she got home to play the ticket, scratching it off in her own lucky pattern.
“I scratch left to right and just when I hit the last spot on my scratch-off I saw that I had won,” she said. “I was so scared! I had no one to tell and my heart just started pounding really fast.”
Eager to share the good news, she called her adult daughter. The woman doubted the win until she, too, got a chance to hold the ticket in her own hands. Realizing the ticket was the real deal, the daughter began rubbing the ticket all over, her mother said, in hopes that a bit of the luck would pass to her!
Our lucky winner says she will use her prize to pay off her recently purchased car and may share a small portion with family. She worked as a sales clerk at an area Hecht’s department store until retiring in 2002. Now, she spends her days caring for her granddaughter and said the lucky win will not change her day-to-day activities. Her big plans after claiming her prize at Lottery headquarters? “After this, I’ve got to go home and finish the laundry,” she said.
Five $50,000 top prizes remain on the Diamonds & Dollars scratch-off game, which launched Feb. 23. The Lottery will give a $500 bonus to the Baltimore retailer for selling the top-prize ticket.