Baltimore resident wins $10,000 on Magic Number Bingo game
A loyal Maryland Lottery scratch-off player who visited her favorite retailer on Monday is $10,000 richer after taking the store clerk’s advice and buying a brand new ticket.
In fact, the $5 Magic Number Bingo ticket was so new that the clerk at Mandeep Sunoco, located at 1 Carroll Island Road in Baltimore, was just putting it on display. The scratch-off went on sale statewide on Monday and the 64-year-old Baltimore woman became its first big winner when she landed a $10,000 prize.
“She was just putting them out, they were new,” said the lucky winner, who was joined by her daughter as she claimed the prize at Lottery headquarters on Tuesday morning. “She said, ‘It’s a new ticket, try this one.’ And I said, ‘Nah, I never win, anyway.’ But, she talked me into it.”
The retired medical worker scratched off the ticket at the store, but it took her a few minutes to realize that she’d won.
“I thought I was seeing things,” she said. “I thought maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me.”
However, her win was the real deal. The fifth bingo card out of the six on the ticket delivered the $10,000 prize.
“I just kept my mouth shut and went straight out the door,” said the lucky winner. “When my daughter came home I told her.”
Initially, her daughter didn’t believe the news.
“She told me she won $10,000, and I said, ‘No you didn’t!’ ” her daughter said. “I said, ‘Are you sure?’ ”
The retiree, who plays instant tickets regularly, reports that her largest win before this one was a $500 prize that happened about two years ago. She plans to pay off bills with her prize and enjoy lunch at a favorite restaurant with her daughter.
Magic Number Bingo has seven unclaimed top prizes of $50,000, 11 more $10,000 prizes, 10 $5,000 prizes and thousands of additional prizes ranging from $5 to $1,000.