Per MD Lottery:
A Wheaton woman bought a selection of Maryland Lottery scratch-offs in December as she often does during the holidays. Unlike other years, she put the games aside this time and forgot about them until after Groundhog Day. She then pulled the instant tickets out, scratched them off and one turned out to be worth $50,000.
“I just kept laughing,” the 42-year-old winner said on Feb. 16 when she claimed her prize on a Power 5s ticket bought weeks ago. Even as she claimed the prize, she couldn’t contain her laugher, breaking out in giggles several times while talking about her win.
Her scratch-off purchases took place on New Year’s Eve. The scratch-off fan, who had dinner plans, decided the time was right to make her holiday Lottery purchases. She went to two shops, including Young Gourmet Beer & Wine at 3422 Olney Laytonsville Road in Olney, to buy a selection of instant tickets.
Then, she didn’t give the games another thought for a month and a half.
“I usually buy tickets for me, my dad and my mom, and they usually win,” she said between laughs. The winner reports that her dad’s reaction when she told him about the big prize was, “I’m not even jealous!”
A contractual worker, the winner says her windfall will go into savings to provide a financial cushion in case she has an unusually long break between jobs.
Also scoring a win is Young Gourmet Beer & Wine, which picks up a $500 bonus from the Lottery for selling a $50,000 top-prize winning scratch-off. The bonus is equal to 1 percent of the prize.
The $5 Power 5s game, which went on sale in November, still has five $50,000 top prizes remaining along with 10 unclaimed $5,000 prizes.
A Montgomery County, Maryland Powerball player made history in the Monday, Sept. 27 drawing, becoming the first person in the nation to win a $10 million Double Play top prize.
Montgomery County’s Rockville Exxon at White Flint located at 11433 Rockville Pike in Rockville sold the winning Powerball Double Play ticket, which matched all of the numbers in the Sept. 27 Double Play drawing: 2, 27, 51, 62 and 66; the Powerball was 1. For its role in the historic sale, the retailer will earn a $10,000 bonus from the Lottery.
Continued, from Maryland Lottery:
Meanwhile, no one hit the jackpot in the Powerball drawing, sending it on a roll to $570 million for the Wednesday, Sept. 29 drawing. The cash option is estimated at $410 million.
“It’s always exciting when the jackpot is rolling, but selling the very first $10 million-winning Double Play ticket takes it to a whole different level,” said Maryland Lottery and Gaming Director John Martin. “We’ve now had a Powerball jackpot prize and a Double Play top-tier prize in Maryland this year. We can’t wait to meet the $10 million winner and help them celebrate.”
The $1 Double Play add-on feature, which 13 U.S. lotteries began offering on Aug. 23, gives players a second chance to win on their Powerball tickets. Tickets with the Double Play feature are eligible for both the Powerballdrawing and a separate Double Play drawing. Instead of a jackpot, Double Play offers a $10 million top prize. Maryland had 2,417 Double Play winners in the Sept. 27 drawing, with other prizes ranging from $7 to $500. Nationally, there were 29,679 Double Playwinners.
Maryland had loads of winners in the Powerball drawing, too, with one $50,000-winning ticket sold in Harford County by the Food Lion store located at 2458 Churchville Road in Bel Air. In all, Maryland had 20,750 winners in the Powerball drawing, which prizes ranging from $4 to $50,000. Maryland is home to three Powerball jackpot wins, including a $731.1 million prize in the Jan. 20, 2021 drawing on a ticket sold in Lonaconing.
Maryland Lottery officials encourage all winners to sign the backs of their tickets immediately and put them in a safe location. They get 182 days from the date of the drawing to claim their prizes.
Instructions on claiming prizes in person or by mail are available HERE. Players must redeem prizes larger than $25,000 by mail or at Lottery headquarters in the Montgomery Park Business Center, 1800 Washington Blvd., Suite 330 in Baltimore. The Lottery’s Claims Center in Baltimore is open by appointment only (no walk-ins). Click here to schedule an appointment.
Watch televised Powerball drawings at 11:22 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays on WBAL-TV. Double Play drawings can be viewed at Powerball.com. Winning numbers are available at mdlottery.com and on your smartphone by downloading the free MD Lottery app. Powerball tickets cost $2 each. Players can add either Power Play to their tickets for an additional $1 or Double Play for an additional $1 or both for a total ticket cost of $4.
