Pennsylvania resident claims $10,000 prize on ticket purchased in Carroll County
“It was tough to keep it quiet,” a Pennsylvania woman told Maryland Lottery officials on Thursday. “But we did it. We really didn’t want to wake up the whole house.” What was this late-night news that risked interrupting the sleep of her husband and children? The woman and her mother uncovered a $10,000 prize when they scratched a Big $10 Ticket game.
Up until the final swipe on the winning ticket, the night was like many others. After selecting several tickets from the instant ticket vending machine at the Jiffy Mart at 1155 South Main Street in Hampstead, the lucky winner and her mom sat down to scratch the games – an activity they enjoy doing together.
“I scratched my Big $10 Ticket and saw what I thought was a winner, but I wasn’t positive,” she said. She handed the ticket to her mother for inspection, and the expression on her mom’s face told her all she needed to know.
“’Oh, my Gosh,’ was all mom said. $10,000? We were both stunned,” the lucky woman recalled.
With their excitement moments from manifesting itself in shouts of joy, they remembered their sleeping family members. “It was pretty late so we thought it best to keep the noise down. It sure was hard keeping the news to ourselves.”
The 42-year-old racetrack employee and mother of three did leave word of the family’s lottery luck for any early risers.
“We put a note on the bathroom mirror in case anyone got up before us,” she said, adding that the celebration that was put on hold the night before found new life the next morning. “We all got to celebrate together.”
The Pennsylvania woman said the $10,000 prize will help to pay for a new car for the family. The Big $10 Ticket game launched in November, and two of its $100,000 top prizes remain unclaimed, along with 11 more $10,000 prizes and thousands of additional prizes ranging from $10 to $1,000.