Son's Lucky Penny Unveils $30,000 Scratch-Off Win

BURTONSVILLE, MD — A Burtonsville mother of two who borrowed her son’s lucky coin as a scratcher while playing five Maryland Lottery Lucky Bucks Bingo games was surprised to see a $30,000 top prize pop up on one of the $2 instant tickets.

The Maryland Lottery says Lori Eline realized she had matching numbers on all four corners of a bingo card on one scratch-off. That feat alone was worth a $50 prize. Better still, she had not yet checked the game’s bonus numbers to see if she could make more matches to win $1,000 or $30,000. At that point, Lori’s son fetched his lucky coin.

“My 8-year-old son gave me his lucky penny to scratch the Bonus Numbers off,” she said. The Bonus Numbers gave her the top-prize win. “I said, ‘Do you know what this means?’ and he said, ‘Can I take karate lessons?’” Her answer: “Yes!”

The 33-year-old medical biller tries to buy new games to get a good chance to win prizes and researches games online at mdlottery.com to see which ones still have top prizes remaining. Lucky Bucks Bingo launched in December, and this was the first of its $30,000 top prizes to be claimed. The ticket also still has three $10,000 prizes, along with a host of other smaller prizes.

This was Lori’s largest Lottery win to date. Although she is a pro at playing scratch-offs, this experience did teach her an important lesson.

“I didn’t sign the back of the scratch-off until I got here,” she said after claiming her prize at Lottery headquarters in Baltimore.

Lottery officials urge big winners to always sign their tickets immediately and keep them in a safe place until they can claim their prize. Her ticket spent the weekend stashed in a closet.

Although she is uncertain how she will spend her prize, Lori is thinking about setting up college funds for her 13-year-old and 8-year-old children, making a down payment on a car, investing the money and buying some new video games. Also enjoying her prize is the 7-Eleven store located at 15585 Old Columbia Pike in Burtonsville, which will receive a $300 bonus from the Lottery for selling the top-prize-winning scratch-off.

»Photo of Lori Eline of Burtonsville, won a $30,000 top prize in Lucky Bucks Bingo scratch-off, courtesy of Maryland Lottery