Higher Power Guides Hanover Woman To $50K Scratch-Off Win

HANOVER, MD — Still waiting on her first paycheck in a new job and her last payment from her previous employer, an Anne Arundel County woman counted on her higher power to sort out the situation. Little did she know that help would come from a Maryland Lottery scratch-off purchase.

“It’s not like I was in dire straits,” the mother and new grandmother told Maryland Lotteryofficials. “It was just frustrating having to wait.”

On June 7, the cybersecurity specialist was at the Timbuktu Restaurant in Hanover when she decided to try an instant ticket. “I rarely play these things, but I do buy them for a family member who really enjoys them. She’d won recently with Winning Streak and had told me that I ought to try one so I did,” she said in a news release.

It wasn’t until the next morning that the Hanover resident scratched off her big win. “There are 15 boxes on the ticket and I had matches in eight of them. It looked like they added up to $50,000 but ‘there’s no way that could be,’ I told myself. I never win anything.”

She went to a nearby convenience store to check on whether she'd won a big prize, and the clerk confirmed the good news.

“His eyes got real big. He mouthed, ‘You just won $50,000!’ ” The happy winner kept her cool until she was a few blocks away from the store.

The winner will dedicate her Winning Streak cash first to her bills and then to her new grandson. Her top-prize win leaves four more $50,000 prizes available in this $5 game.

The restaurant at 1726 Dorsey Road in Hanover earns a $500 bonus from the Lottery for selling a top-prize winning instant ticket in the game.