Sykesville Teacher Takes Home $10,000 Scratch-off Prize

Stephanie Adams of Sykesville was in the mood to celebrate Betty Boop style after winning $10,000.

Howard County educator notches big win on Betty Boop ticket

Stephanie Adams describes herself as an occasional Lottery player. In fact, she “hadn’t bought a ticket in months,” when the mood struck her to try her luck on the afternoon of May 2.

The Sykesville resident, who teaches in the Howard County Schools, was shopping at the Safeway store at 10000 Baltimore National Pike in Ellicott City when she decided to buy a few scratch-off tickets from a Lottery vending machine. After buying three tickets, she had $2 left and used them to purchase a Betty Boop ticket. The colorful cartoon character delivered a $10,000 prize. But there was a bit of drama before Stephanie discovered her big win.

After returning home, she scratched the first three tickets and won a total of $14. But that all-important Betty Boop ticket was nowhere to be found.

“I didn’t know what happened to the fourth ticket,” she said. “I went outside to the car to look and see if it was still there, but I didn’t see it. When I came back in, I saw it was stuck to the back of one of the other tickets.”

That’s when she scratched it and saw the prize – and that touched off a celebration for Stephanie and her 15-year-old son. She said she plans to use the money to pay a few bills and take her son on a vacation to Florida.

The $2 Betty Boop ticket launched in March, and three of its $10,000 top prizes remain unclaimed, along with 11 $1,000 prizes and thousands of additional prizes ranging from $2 to $500.