$50,000 prize is third win in nine months for retired state worker
A retired Worcester County resident claimed the last available top prize in the Maryland Lottery’s Red Hot Riches scratch-off game. But if her recent run of good luck is any indication, it won’t be her last big win.
Our especially lucky winner is a former State of Maryland employee and an avid scratch-off player who buys tickets four or five times a week. When she captured a $50,000 top prize playing Red Hot Riches on April 18, it was her third scratch-off prize in the last nine months. She won $50,000 playing Fabulous 5s in February and also won a prize in September, playing last year’s launch of the popular 10x Cash game.
“I like the scratch-offs, and I fancy the $5 and $10 tickets,” our winner said. “I like to buy the newer ones right away.”
After purchasing the $5 Red Hot Riches ticket at the Food Rite store at 308 East Market Street in Snow Hill, she scratched it in her car and couldn’t believe that good fortune had found her again.
“I kept looking at it – I didn’t think it was real. I read it and I said, ‘Wait a minute!’ ” she recalled, adding that she went home and called her family to tell them the news.
Our winner said she hasn’t done anything special with her previous prizes and added that her plans are the same this time.
“I’ve been able to save some money and pay off bills and help my family,” she said. “I worked all my life, but was never able to save, so that’s what I want to do. Now that I have savings, I don’t want to buy anything – I don’t even want to go to the grocery store.”
For selling the top-prize winning ticket, the Food Rite store will receive a $500 bonus from the Lottery. The Red Hot Riches game still has one unclaimed $5,000 prize.