Twice Is Nice: COVID-19 ICU Nurse Caring For Her Mom Has 2 Winning Lotto Tickets In 1 Year

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — For the second time in less than a year, a nurse working in a Maryland COVID-19 intensive care unit celebrated winning the Maryland Lottery. Most recently, the Bowie resident scored $65,966 on a Fast Play Payday ticket.

The prize came about 10 months after she stopped by Lottery headquarters in Baltimore on May 11, 2021, to claim a $50,000 Fast Play prize on the Lucky Numbers game. She bought her newest lucky ticket March 1 at the Kettering BP gas station in Upper Marlboro. The 32-year-old then scanned the ticket at the retailer and received a message telling her to check with the cashier. Not wanting to cause a commotion if the prize were a big one, she went to a different location, checked again and saw the ticket was worth $50,000.

“Have you ever been in so much shock that you didn’t have a reaction?” she said, describing how she felt after winning big a second time within a year.

Originally from southwestern Virginia, the Prince George’s County resident came to Maryland as a traveling nurse and has worked long shifts in hospital COVID-19 wards. She spends most of her free time caring for her elderly mother.

“A lot of people have said you have blessings coming, but I didn’t know it would be in the form of winning the lottery,” she said.

The healthcare worker said she plans to use the prize to make living improvements for her and her mom, noting that there are unexpected costs that arise from long-term living so far from home.

Her lucky Prince George’s County retailer, Kettering BP at 10604 Campus Way South, receives a bonus from the lottery for selling the winning ticket. The bonus, $659.66, is equal to 1 percent of the prize.