$50K Powerball Winner Chalks It Up to 'Good Karma'

CHURCHTON, MD — A woman who is finishing her college degree says karma helped her and her boyfriend win a $50,000 Powerball prize in the Jan. 9 drawing.

Jennifer McBride-Scarito of Churchton told Maryland Lottery officials she hadn’t purchased a lottery ticket for about two years.

She’s worked in nursing for 16 years and enjoys helping people and animals. The 46-year-old shared a story with Lottery officials about finding a stray dog and reuniting it with its owner. These and other good deeds she and her boyfriend, Bryan Noss, have performed over the years finally came back to them, she said.

Jennifer is one of seven Marylanders who won $50,000 in the drawing for the world record jackpot, which has now rolled to $1.45billion for Wednesday, Jan. 13. Another three Marylanders tripled their prize to $150,000 by adding Power Play to their ticket and one Marylander is the first $1 million Powerball winner of 2016.

Jennifer’s decision to chase the jackpot happened the day of the drawing. While at home taking down holiday decorations, she and Bryan decided to go to the store for beverages. While there, they decided to buy a few Powerball tickets. “No more than $10 worth,” she said.

They visited Captain Kidd’s at 5823 Deale-Churchton Road in Deale and purchased exactly $10 worth of tickets.

Jennifer was asleep during Sunday’s live drawing, which Bryan watched. He kept going back over the ticket and the winning numbers until he was convinced of the win. He woke up Jennifer, who remembers her sleepy response: “Stop messing with me.” Once she realized Bryan was serious, Jennifer got so excited she called both of her sisters and her stepmother in Texas to share the good news.

Jennifer and Bryan plan to use the prize to pay off their cars and make some home improvements.

»Photo and video of Jennifer McBride-Scarito of Churchton and Bryan Noss, courtesy of Maryland Lottery