For the second time in two years, a woman from Silver Spring and her Lottery partner/daughter-in-law traveled to Baltimore to claim a Mega Millions $50,000 prize.
“We win because we play the same numbers!” the daughter-in-law said after claiming the winnings Oct. 5 at Lottery headquarters in Baltimore. Although it doesn’t matter what number is played since the odds of winning never change, many players get enjoyment out of the rituals they attach to playing. In the case of the mother and daughter-in-law team, they purchased a quick pick Mega Millions ticket a few years back and then continued replaying those same numbers for every subsequent drawing.
On Sept. 18, their ticket matched four of the first five balls drawn plus the Mega Ball for a third-tier win. The pair added the Megaplier option to their ticket purchase, and the multiplier was 5X, which increased their prize from $10,000 to $50,000.
“I needed one more number!” the mother said. That realization, however, was not immediately evident to her. On the day after the drawing, the daughter-in-law looked at the Mega Millions numbers online and thought they seemed familiar. Then she remembered the ticket and called her mother-in-law, who reports checking the ticket five times and still not believing it.
Ultimately, the daughter-in-law took the ticket to the place of purchase, the Exxon gas station at 8384 Colesville Road in Silver Spring, and confirmed the win. It was only then that the mother-in-law was convinced.
The two have more than the usual amount of experience when it comes to winning big. They claimed a $50,000 third-tier prize on Powerball in December of 2024. The proceeds from the 2024 win went to helping family members and paying down a little debt. The game plan for the proceeds of their most recent big win is similar.
Moving forward, the two plan to continue playing both multi-state jackpot games, as well as the Maryland-only jackpot game Multi-Match.
