Maryland woman wins $50,000 lottery prize after breaking her normal routine

A Maryland woman trusted her gut — and won $50,000 as a result.

The woman, who did not want to be identified but who lives in the city of Hagerstown, told the Maryland Lottery that she does not normally play the game in which she got her big win, the lottery announced in a January 16 news release. 

“I’m actually a jackpot player,” the woman told officials in early January when collecting her prize.

“But every once in a while, a scratch game catches my eye.” 

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That game for her was the “$1 Million Royale” game, with a $20 scratch-off ticket offering a top prize of $1,000,000. 

The game’s second-highest prize is $50,000. 

So far, three of the seven $50,000 prizes available have been claimed, the Maryland Lottery’s website says. 

There are also five million-dollar prizes still available. 

The woman bought a $20 scratch-off ticket from a gas station in Maryland, which was a break from her usual lottery-playing habits.  (Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images / Getty Images)

The woman told the Maryland Lottery that she was running low on gas when she stopped at “the first gas station I saw” in late December. 

“As I was waiting for the tank to fill, I noticed that the store there sold lottery [tickets],” she said. 

The woman eschewed her normal games of Mega Millions and Powerball and said, “For some reason I changed my mind.” 

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Instead, she bought the $1 Million Royale ticket, saying “there was just something about that ticket.” 

As it turned out, she was correct. When she got home, she scratched off the ticket — and discovered she’d won big. 

The woman won $50,000 from a scratch-off lottery ticket she purchased in December, said the Maryland Lottery in a January 16 news release.  (iStock / iStock)

Initially, the woman thought she’d not won anything — until she took another look at the rules of the game.

“I had no matches, which was disappointing,” she told the Maryland Lottery. “But there was one symbol instead of a number” in one of the spots.

That symbol meant that she had won whatever prize was listed below it: $50,000. 

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“I expected to win my money back, so I was happy,” she said. 

Winning the prize was a “shock,” she said. 

“It was disbelief. Could it really be $50,000?”

“It was disbelief. Could it really be $50,000?” 

The woman told the Maryland Lottery that she plans on spending her prize on her family, perhaps with “a big event” or “maybe a trip.” 

“Either way, it’ll be all of us together,” she said. 

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The Maryland Lottery was founded in 1973, says its website.

Since that time, the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control agency has contributed $19.3 billion to the state of Maryland.

The woman told the Maryland Lottery that she plans on using her winnings to treat her family, possibly on a trip.  (Nik Wheeler/Corbis via Getty Images / Getty Images)

“To achieve our mission, we provide entertaining games that are run with honesty, integrity and transparency, and give Marylanders 18 years of age and older the chance to win cash and other great prizes,” the organization said. 

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The Maryland Lottery has distributed more than $31.5 billion in prizes, said its website. 

FOX Business reached out to the Maryland Lottery for additional comment. 

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