Found Lottery luck at Ellicott City grocery
A Howard County retiree parlayed the misfortune of her recent fender bender into a $25,000 Pick 5 prize that will help finance her purchase of a new vehicle.
The Columbia resident wasn’t injured in her recent accident, but said her vehicle wasn’t as fortunate, adding that the car had to be towed away.
Although her usual Lottery game choices are Pick 4 and Multi-Match, she decided to try the new Pick 5 game on Valentine’s Day, just a week after it joined the Maryland Lottery’s daily game lineup. During a visit to Giant #143 in Ellicott City, she placed a 50-cent straight bet for the Feb. 14 evening drawing and Feb. 15 midday drawing using some of the license plate numbers from her towed-away vehicle.
The next day, the lucky player checked the results using the Lottery app on her smartphone and couldn’t believe her eyes.
“I called my friend and said, ‘Can you believe this?’” she said. Her next stop was her lucky Giant store, where she scanned her lucky ticket and verified that her $25,000 win was real. The winner said she has already put a deposit down on a new convertible.
Players have won 14 $25,000 prizes on 50-cent straight bets since the Pick 5 game launched on Feb. 7. Retailers that sell these $25,000-winning tickets earn a bonus of $250 from the Lottery, which means Giant #143 located at 4715 Dorsey Hall Road in Ellicott City has a bonus coming its way for selling the lucky ticket.
