First top-tier Power Cash prize claimed days after game goes on sale
A Maryland Lottery player from Garrett County was happy when she scratched her Power Cash ticket and thought she won $5,000, but then she double checked and realized it was worth a lot more than that — 10 times more, to be exact.
“I didn’t know about the multiplier,” the winner said on Feb. 22, when she and her husband trekked to Baltimore to claim the prize. “I took off work for two days guarding the ticket!”
The scratch-off fan was the first $50,000 winner on the $5 ticket, which hit stores on Feb. 19.
It all started when she and her husband were driving home from work and stopped for gas at BFS Foods #46 at 24179 Garrett Highway in McHenry, along Deep Creek Lake. She went in and purchased some tickets, including the winning $5 scratch-off game, and scratched them on the spot. While she was still in the store, she thought she had a winner for $5,000, but then she went outside and scanned the ticket with the Maryland Lottery app on her phone and saw the extra zero.
“It’s my first time winning this big,” she said, explaining she has won prizes of a few hundred dollars from time to time in the past.
The winner and her husband have two young children and plenty of expenses. She says she has practical plans for the money, starting with getting professional investment advice that may help lead to the purchase of a house. The couple also is planning a low-key celebration in the near future.
For selling a top-tier winning scratch-off ticket, the BFS Foods location receives a bonus of $500 from the Lottery.
The Power Cash game still has seven more of its $50,000 top prizes unclaimed, along with 15 prizes of $5,000 and thousands of additional prizes ranging from $5 to $5,000.
