Scratch-Off Queen Banks Lottery Fortune For Holiday Fun

GLEN BURNIE, MD — “Ernestine, the Scratch-off Queen” is seeing green after claiming $50,000 on the $2,000,000 Fortune game. The Glen Burnie resident is riding a winning streak that delivered between $200 and $10,000 in the past four years, according to a Maryland Lottery news release.

Now, she’s got an even bigger win to back her nickname. “I’m just lucky I guess,” said the winner.

Even though the inventory control specialist loves to play scratch-offs and keeps winning, she admits the $30 $2,000,000 Fortune scratch-off intimidates her.

“I mean, it’s a $30 scratch-off,” she said. “That scares me a little bit.” However, her pre-Halloween win showed her there’s nothing to fear from playing a higher-priced game.

After leaving work on Saturday, the 61-year-old scratch-off fan picked up just one $2,000,000 Fortune instant ticket at the 7-Eleven store at 1401 Dorsey Road in Hanover. She played the game in her car. Familiar with the ticket, she saw the “gold bar” symbol and knew she had won something.

“I thought, ‘Yay, I get my $30 back,’ ” she said, smiling. “But, I was freaking out when I saw it was really $50,000.”

The married mother of two grown children simply had to share news of her good fortune. She immediately called her husband and made him play a guessing game.

“I made him guess how much I won,” she told Lottery officials. “He kept getting it wrong.”

When she revealed the true amount, he didn’t believe her and she had to text him a picture so he would know it was real. “I’m really excited for her,” he said.

Ernestine the Scratch-off Queen hid the instant ticket under her mattress. She and her supportive husband had an unsettling weekend knowing they had $50,000 stashed in the house. The couple checked the scratch-off every couple of hours and the Scratch-off Queen kept looking at the picture of winning instant ticket on her phone.

The couple said the prize money will go toward holiday gifts for their 11 grandkids, a vacation and to pay off their truck.

Photo courtesy of Maryland Lottery