Free Pick 5 ticket delivers prize in July 19 drawing
A rainy day at the shore can be a real downer, especially if it’s the last day of a vacation you’ve waited for all year. Happily, Ocean City has plenty to offer visitors, even when it’s not a beach day. The $50,000 winning Pick 5 ticket an Ohio couple took home from their holiday turned a bad weather day into one filled with good fortune.
“We’re lottery fans back home,” said the school system employee, who claimed her prize at Lottery headquarters this week. “We were driving around since it was raining and my husband suggested that we get a few tickets.” Hoping as so many did to get a piece of last week’s $1.08 billion jackpot, they bought Powerball tickets and a few Maryland games at 7-Eleven #26106 in Ocean City.
“We were walking away from the counter when the cashier called us back,” said the 58-year-old. It turns out they won a free Pick 5 ticket as part of a promotion celebrating Lottery Week. “My husband stuck it in his pocket. We didn’t think a thing about it.”
The following morning on the return trip to their home in a Cleveland suburb, they stopped for gas. Our winner remembered the Maryland Lottery tickets and asked her husband to check the games for prizes. When he left the store, the Ohio woman told Lottery officials, she noticed something unusual about him. “It was the look on his face, I couldn’t figure it out.”
As you might imagine, the $50,000 top-prize Pick 5 win in the July 19 midday drawing was the topic of discussion all the way home. “It sure did lift the usually depressing end-of-vacation mood for us. It was all we talked about.”
The couple will use most of their winnings for a long-desired home improvement project. “My husband made it very clear that he intends to set aside some of the money for next summer’s Ocean City vacation,” she said. No doubt the Ohio family will again stop by 7-Eleven #26106 at 106 North Division Street on next year’s visit.
The lucky Lottery retailer can also celebrate. The Worcester County business earned a $500 bonus from the Lottery for producing the $50,000 Pick 5 winner. The Lottery Week promotion ran July 16-22 and gave players a chance to receive a free game by buying any draw or FAST PLAY ticket during the week.
