Essex woman’s ticket is one number shy of jackpot win
As the Powerball jackpot grew to an astonishing $900 million for Saturday night’s drawing, jackpot chasers everywhere headed to their local Maryland Lottery retailer to purchase tickets. A 32-year-old Essex woman joined in the chase and got lucky with a $50,000 win!
She was one of seven Marylanders who won $50,000 in the Jan. 9 drawing. The jackpot also created a new Maryland Powerball millionaire and three $150,000 winners who added Power Play to their tickets to triple their prize.
The lucky woman doesn’t play Lottery games often but decided to join the fun after hearing about the $900 million Powerball jackpot. That Saturday, she told her mom she’d be back and set out to let herself play.
“I wanted to venture outside of my neighborhood, so I hopped on I-695 and just drove,” she said. “I picked an exit and found a spot that sold Lottery.” The hot spot was the 7-Eleven #11607 located at 1538 York Road in Lutherville. “I bought four tickets from there and five more at a location closer to home.”
With nine tickets in hand, the winner came home for a quiet evening and didn’t check her numbers until after the Powerball drawing. “I looked at the app on my phone, but it said the results were pending,” said the Baltimore City Housing Authority employee. “Then, I saw the winning numbers posted by a friend on Facebook and thought, ‘Those numbers look familiar.’ ” The real confirmation didn’t come until 5 a.m. when she checked the app one more time.
The mother of a 7-year-old daughter, the happy winner plans to put some of the prize toward her daughter’s college fund and pay off some bills. She also recently bought a new car and plans to make a hefty payment with her winnings.