A great-grandmother has told how she burst into tears after she found out she had scooped a USD 50,000 lottery win.
The winner – named only as Christina, from Baltimore County in the US state of Maryland – was amazed when a shop assistant told her she had won on a scratch card.
Christina said: “She looked at me and she started crying. And I go to crying and she said, ‘You won USD50,000 [GBP 41,000].’”
She added: “I was dumbfounded.
“I was shook up so I went outside and sat in my truck and then drove home.”
Newsflash obtained a statement from the Maryland Lottery on Friday, 17th March, saying: “‘Christina’ of Baltimore County visits her local grocery store for more than just produce and canned goods.
“For the second time in about three years, the scratch-off fan won a five-figure prize on a game bought at her favorite Lottery retailer.”
The lottery officials added: “The USD 20 [GBP 16.40], USD 50,000 Cash game revealed its 34th top prize on the ticket she bought at Food Lion #2560 in Baltimore.
” ‘Christina,’ which is the nickname she is using to tell her winning story, said she uses her personal lucky scratcher to remove the latex from the prize check areas on her tickets.
“She doesn’t usually play the games.”
The lucky winner said: “I’m a scratch and scan player. I want to know sooner than later if I won.”
The statement said: “On the day she found her lucky win, ‘Christina’ bought four USD 50,000 Cash scratch-offs at the grocery.
“She stayed, as she usually does, to scratch the prize check areas and scan the tickets using the store’s ticket checker.
“The first three games yielded no prizes but she saw an unusual message appear when she scanned the fourth scratch-off.
“Calling over to one of the store clerks, ‘Christina’ asked what it meant if she saw the message to take the instant ticket to the Lottery. She asked the clerk to check for the prize amount and gave her the ticket.”
The statement went on: “Her husband misunderstood when she showed him the winning ticket and thought her prize was USD 5,000 [GBP 4,106].
“The retired mother of two, grandmother of six and great-grandmother of one previously won USD 10,000 [GBP 8,212] at the Food Lion several years ago and assured him that he was missing a zero on the prize amount.”
Christina said she will use her winnings to pay bills, do some home improvement and get something for her new great-grandchild.
