Party Game Prize of Holiday Scratch-off leads to $30,000 Win

Lucky Glen Burnie woman lands top prize on Peppermint Payout game

Winning an ugly sweater contest at a festive holiday party was just the start of a Glen Burnie woman’s novel experience with Maryland Lottery scratch-offs. The contest win netted the Anne Arundel County resident and her boyfriend five $1 Holiday scratch-offs, but a $30,000 surprise was awaiting discovery in another party game.

The guests passed gifts around a circle, left and right, following directions in a poem. When the game was over, the gift that landed in the hands of our 30-year-old novice scratch-off player was a $3 Peppermint Payout ticket. She and her boyfriend set the unscratched games aside when they got home, thinking they would re-gift them. When Christmas morning arrived, the scratch-offs were still ungifted so she decided to play them during the long drive to her mother’s holiday gathering.

“I thought, why not, let’s scratch them,” she said. One of the $1 games delivered a $100 prize, which was a big surprise. But it turned out that Lottery luck was truly in the air that morning, because what she saw on the Peppermint Payout scratch-off sent her into shock.

“My heart got heavy and I got real hot,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it.”

The winner showed the scratched off ticket to her boyfriend. They carefully checked the back of the instant ticket for guidance and even scanned it at a Lottery retailer. When they arrived at her mom’s house, the winner whispered in her mother’s ear that they thought the scratch-off was worth $30,000.

“She screamed and told everyone there, the whole family, and called people who weren’t there,” the winner said. Several relatives at the gathering confirmed the $30,000 prize for the couple.

“They said, ‘That’s what we see, too!’” she recalled.

The windfall arrives at a perfect time for the now-lucky pair. “We’ve been really struggling,” she said, adding that the prize will go toward paying off bills.

The lucky Lottery retailer that sold the winning scratch-off to one of the partygoers also gets a holiday bonus. For selling a $30,000 top-prize winning scratch-off, 7-Eleven #26152 at 8930 Fort Smallwood Road in Pasadena will receive a $300 bonus from the Lottery.

The Peppermint Payout game is still loaded with prizes. Players can search for another five unclaimed $30,000 top prizes as well as others ranging from $3 to $500. There is also time to enter non-winning Holiday scratch-offs in the Holiday Cash Second-Chance Promotion. Players can try to win cash prizes of $2,500 or $25,000. The deadline for the final drawing is Jan. 10. Get details HERE.