Nurse ‘immediately drawn’ to holiday-themed lottery ticket scores big In Maryland

A registered nurse’s “spur-of-the-moment” decision landed her a huge prize, Maryland Lottery officials said.

The occasional lottery player was visiting Baltimore from Silver Spring, which is about 40 miles southwest, when she decided to buy a $5 holiday-themed scratch-off in Rockville, according to a Dec. 21 news release by Maryland Lottery.

She had no clue that decision would lead her to a $50,000 prize, officials said.

The woman, whose name was not given in the release, was getting gas when “the feeling hit” and she decided to buy a ticket, officials said.

“It’s a pretty ticket, Holiday Cash. Great colors,” she said in the release. “I didn’t play it until two days later. Life’s very busy right now. I got distracted.”

Once the lucky woman decided to play the ticket, she was shocked to learn of her prize, officials said.

“I didn’t believe it when I scratched it, when my mom confirmed it or after my sister checked it on her Lottery app” she told officials. “I just knew it couldn’t be real.”

After a sleepless night, the woman visited lottery headquarters the next day to claim her prize, officials said.

“Thank goodness I was able to get in so quickly,” she said. “Wondering about it was driving me crazy.”

Officials didn’t specify what the woman planned to do with her winnings, just that even toward the final stages of claiming the money she was still in disbelief.

“How can this be happening?” she said, according to officials.

Rockville is about 40 miles southwest of Baltimore.

This story was originally published December 21, 2023 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Nurse ‘immediately drawn’ to holiday-themed lottery ticket scores big In Maryland."