A family Christmas tradition turned into a $100,000 Maryland Lottery holiday surprise for a woman from Maryland who was half a world away exploring South Africa.
Her journey to winning began on Christmas morning when her father continued a family tradition of gifting Lottery tickets as stocking stuffers. Previous Christmas tickets were usually scratch-off games, but this time her dad gave his adult children Holiday Raffle tickets, which had a drawing date of Jan. 2. The day after Christmas, the soon-to-be winner packed her gifts, including the raffle ticket, into her suitcase along with her clothes, and headed off on a trip to South Africa.
While she was abroad, her family stayed in touch, talking every other day. Weeks after the winning numbers were announced, her family members began reminding each other to check their tickets. Her siblings had already checked theirs, but there were still unclaimed winning tickets outstanding. Then, after weeks of encouragement from home, the winner finally decided to check her ticket.
“To my surprise, it read ‘winner,’” she recalled. “I thought it wasn’t real because it looked fake, I honestly thought it was a prank. But it was real. I was so happy.”
The moment turned her international adventure into an unforgettable celebration.
As for her $100,000 windfall, the winner says she has thoughtfully planned what she’ll do with every dollar. First, she will pay off her remaining student loans. Next, she intends to invest a substantial portion to build for her future. She also plans to set aside funds to help support her family should they ever need financial relief.
Looking ahead, she hopes her father continues the cherished Christmas tradition perhaps with another winning ticket tucked into her stocking. If not, she says she’ll continue to play when she “feels lucky.”
Maryland Lottery Holiday Raffle tickets were on sale Nov. 3 through Jan. 1, with winning numbers drawn on Jan. 2, including for a top prize of $1 million and 10 prizes of $100,000 each. The winning numbers – including 10,000 for prizes of $50 to $500 – were selected from among the 237,206 sequentially numbered tickets sold.
The winner’s dad purchased the $100,000 second-tier-winning ticket at Roundabout Fine Wine & Spirits at 8305 Ice Crystal Drive in Laurel.
A list of all winning numbers is available on the Holiday Raffle page at mdlottery.com, and the page also has a search tool that can be used to check specific numbers to see if they are winners. Holiday Raffle tickets can also be checked by scanning them with the Maryland Lottery app, or at any Lottery retailer. Winners have 182 days from Jan. 2 to claim their prizes.
