‘I didn’t believe it,’ says husband of winner from Clinton
A woman from Clinton whose husband frequently enjoys playing the Maryland Lottery had an extra large helping of beginner’s luck when she bought a $5 Holiday Gold scratch-off in the waning days of 2019 and won $50,000.
“I got lucky!” she said after claiming her prize on the last day of the expired year at Maryland Lottery headquarters in Baltimore.
“I usually do the playing,” said her husband, who accompanied her.
The winning woman was inspired by the holiday season to purchase the Holiday Gold ticket and did so on a whim. She scratched off the latex to reveal a candy cane over the amount $50,000; the ticket states that if you reveal a candy cane symbol, you win the prize shown automatically.
“I didn’t believe it when she told me. I said, ‘Yeah, right!’” the winner’s husband said. He’s a believer now, though. The couple has no immediate plans for the big prize, so they’ll be socking it away for the time being.
Sharing in the player’s good fortune is Shopper’s Food Warehouse #2342 at 6300 Coventry Way in Clinton. For selling a top-tier winning scratch-off ticket, the store receives a bonus of $500, equal to 1 percent of the prize total.
Holiday Gold is the fifth most popular item on the Maryland Lottery’s Top 40 Scratch-Offs chart, climbing one notch this week from the No. 6 spot. It went on sale Oct. 21 with eight top prizes at the $50,000 level and, as of Jan. 2, only three remained unclaimed.