Prince George’s County woman unknowingly picks winning ticket from the pile
Every so often when their large family gathers, each person brings a Maryland Lottery scratch-off or draw game ticket to enter in a friendly game they call “Lotto Roulette.” The tickets go into a pile and each of the six to 10 people attending the gathering will pick a game to play.
On Oct. 14, one member of the family bought a $10 Powerball quick-pick ticket for that night’s drawing while at Riggs Grocery, located at 5405 Kenilworth Avenue in Riverdale. A lucky Prince George’s County member of the family selected that ticket during the game and later discovered Lottery luck had come her way. She was one of two Marylanders to win a $50,000 third-tier prize in the drawing.
“She had, literally, the luck of the draw,” said the winner’s mother, who accompanied her to claim the prize. The winner’s $50,000 score far surpasses the family’s previous top prize of $1,000. An occasional Lottery player, the winner said she doesn’t pick the same type of game each time. “Overwhelmed” was the word mother and daughter used to describe her reaction to the big win, in part because it required a trip to Lottery headquarters in Baltimore to complete the claiming process. The happy player works in a family business and plans to spend part of her prize vacationing in a sunny locale.
The Powerball jackpot continued to roll this week, reaching an estimated annuity of $478 million for tonight’s drawing and an estimated cash option of $230.5 million. Marylanders have won six third-tier Powerball prizes in the last week; five are still unclaimed. The winning tickets were sold at Giant #2313 in Bethesda, 7-Eleven #23698 in Baltimore, Food Mart Citgo in Waldorf, Jimmie’s Paddock in White Plains and Luke’s Liquors in Oakland.
