|
|
Hattie Cox of Baltimore, a loyal scratch-off player since the 1970s, won a $10,000 top prize in the 10x Cash game.Baltimore resident is latest top-prize winner
Even if you’ve been playing Maryland Lottery scratch-off games for years, chances are you haven’t been playing them as long as Hattie Cox. And now, for the first time, the Baltimore resident is a big winner.
On Friday morning, Cox went to the ING Wireless store at 3835 Erdman Ave., in Baltimore to cash her paycheck and picked up a few scratch-offs, including a 10x Cash ticket that won her a top prize of $10,000. Cox recalled that the first Maryland Lottery scratch-off ticket she played was Tic Tac Toe, not long after scratch-offs first went on sale in the state in the mid-1970s.
“I started buying them then and I’ve been playing ever since and I’m not going to stop,” she said. “I’ve won $500 a couple times, but never won like this.”
Cox said she is a fan of 10x Cash because she’s had good luck winning $10 and $15 prizes. But when she took her tickets home and scratched them on Friday morning she had a joyous reaction when she realized her latest win was a lot bigger than that.
“I said ‘wait a minute … wait a minute,’ and then I jumped up and said ‘Woo!’ And I called my son,” said Cox, who will celebrate her 63rd birthday on June 4.
The Baltimore resident said she plans to use the money to pay for renovations in her basement and is thinking about making some special birthday plans.
10x Cash launched on March 23, and there are still 61 top prizes of $10,000 that have not yet been claimed, along with 37 $1,000 prizes.