Uber driver finds Lottery luck at Clinton grocery store
“Pookie” and her toddler arrived at a Clinton store planning only to shop for groceries but wound up $100,000 richer after the Waldorf mom bought her first scratch-off.
The anonymous winner was in line at Safeway #1443 when the man ahead of her talked about a “fresh batch” of scratch-offs that had just been loaded into the store’s Lottery vending machine. Our scratch-off novice asked why that was important and the man told her that he believes the first instant tickets in a book are lucky.
While the distribution of winning scratch-offs is random and there is no way to predict where winning tickets will be within a book of scratch-offs, that brief conversation sparked her decision to buy a $30 $100,000 Lucky ticket. The 29-year-old made the purchase from the vending machine and immediately tried to check for a win.
“I was impatient,” she said. “Pookie,” which is a family nickname, scratched off the prize check area and scanned the instant ticket. The message was confusing, however, and her 3-year-old daughter was with her so the two “rushed out” with the scratch-off and groceries to go home.
Once safely at home, “Pookie” scratched off the entire instant ticket and spotted the game’s $100,000 top prize. The elated Charles County resident phoned her fiancé to share her astonishing news. Although he doubted the big win, he joined the mom and daughter on their drive to Lottery headquarters in Baltimore to claim the prize.
“He still didn’t believe it until we got to Baltimore,” she said.
“Pookie” has multiple plans for her big win. Some of the funds will go toward a down payment on a house and some of the prize will pay off loans. An Uber driver, she also plans to buy a used vehicle for her job or put a new engine in her current vehicle. Last but not least, “Pookie” plans to spend some of the winnings to celebrate her upcoming 30th birthday.
Also getting a financial boost from the sale of the top-prize winning scratch-off is Safeway #1443. The Prince George’s County retailer located at 8785 Branch Avenue in Clinton receives a $1,000 bonus from the Lottery.
The $100,000 Lucky game still has 53 $100,000 top prizes remaining along with 33 unclaimed $5,000 prizes and more than a million others ranging from $30 to $500. This game is one of four $30 instant tickets available. Try your luck!
