Her in-laws have been playing Maryland Lottery games since her husband was a toddler, so a White Hall mom started playing too, and it paid off — to the tune of $1,000 a week for life in the multi-state Cash4Life game.
“My in-laws have been playing forever, so I just started because, well, why not?” the lucky winner from White Hall said.
The winning mom, a nurse by trade, dropped her daughter off for basketball practice, then went to the High’s convenience store for gas. She had been buying scratch-off tickets, in keeping with her husband’s family’s tradition, but instead put down $4 for two quick-pick Cash4Life chances on the drawing scheduled later that day. Her husband, a first responder with the fire service, was working a 24-hour shift that evening.
When she had a chance to check the ticket on the morning of Jan. 18, she realized it was a winner, but wasn’t sure for how much.
“I didn’t believe it at first,” she said.
Her husband, who had returned home after his long shift, wasn’t sure what to make of the situation.
“He was kind of grumpy about it,” the winner explained. She let her husband go to sleep and decided to check in with her mother-in-law, a more practiced Maryland Lottery player.
When the mother-in-law checked the ticket, she was stunned to discover it was a second-tier winner, worth $1,000 a week for life.
“Now my mother-in-law thinks I have a lucky horseshoe,” the 42-year-old winner said.
The sleepy first responder’s brief nap was promptly called to an end, and the family headed to Baltimore to claim the annuity option on the prize, which will be paid in installments of $52,000 a year for life.
Neither husband nor wife have any plans to give up their careers.
“I’m going to keep working. We’ve got three kids. Still, we’ll be able to have nice dinners and vacations forever!” the winner said, adding, “I guess we have to take the kids to Disney World. That’s what people do, right?”
For selling the second-tier ticket, High’s, located at 4525 Norrisville Road in White Hall, will receive a $2,500 bonus from the Lottery.
The winner and her family, “The Fabulous Five,” as mom calls them, were not the only Marylanders with reason to be happy after the Cash4Life drawing. In all, 7,528 Maryland players picked up prizes of $2 or more.
The Maryland Lottery began offering the Cash4Life game in January 2016. Nine states participate: Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Tennessee. Since the game began in June 2014, Cash4Life has had 29 top-prize winners and 64 second-tier winners. Other prize levels range from $2 to $2,500.
In Maryland, tickets are available at Lottery retailers and cost $2 for each line of six numbers. Drawings take place Mondays and Thursdays at 9 p.m.
In August 2017, William Brown of Pikesville won the $1,000 a day Cash4Life top prize and selected the annuity. In May 2016, a Frederick County Public Schools employee claimed a $1,000 a day Cash4Life prize, choosing the $7 million cash option (before taxes).