Lucky lady’s chosen numbers won big in Dec. 30 midday drawing
Two years ago, the Maryland Lottery added the Pick 5 game to its drawings lineup. Players can pick five-digit combinations with prizes that range from $25 up to $50,000. A Baltimore woman recalls discussing with her boyfriend that she was definitely going to play the new game, and that one day she would win.
The lucky lady’s premonition from 2022 came true, as she claimed $100,000 worth of Pick 5 prizes this week.
The Baltimore City resident said she played Pick 5 occasionally when the game launched in February 2022, winning a little here and there. Sometimes she would come extremely close to winning one of the game’s two largest prizes, but she was always off by one number. Pick 5 pays a $25,000 prize for winning on a 50-cent straight bet; and a $50,000 prize for winning a $1 straight bet.
Still, she continued to play her favorite numbers and also buy tickets for her boyfriend with his chosen numbers. On Dec. 30, she placed two $1 straight bets with her special numbers and ended up winning a $50,000 prize for each ticket.
“It’s funny, because I was playing my boyfriend’s tickets and I almost didn’t play for myself,” she said. “I was about to leave the store, but thought, ‘Let me go ahead and get mine too.’”
She bought two tickets with the number 80376 about five minutes before the cutoff time for the Dec. 30 midday drawing. But she didn’t immediately discover the prizes that were waiting for her.
Days later, the lucky lady remembered her tickets and checked them using the Maryland Lottery app on her phone.
“I looked and was like, ‘Hold up, this cannot be right,’” she smiled as she recalled the moment. “I showed my boyfriend so he could double check.”
“I couldn’t believe it,” he said as he accompanied his girlfriend to claim the prizes. “And to think, I was feeling lucky that day when she bought those tickets.”
The couple visited Lottery headquarters on Feb. 22 to claim the prizes, and the lucky winner said she plans to invest the prize money.
Also celebrating in the winning is the Lottery retailer that sold the two tickets. R&R Convenience and Deli, located at 812 Guilford Avenue in Baltimore City, will collect $1,000 in bonuses from the Maryland Lottery — $500 for each of the two $50,000-winning tickets.
