A nervous woman who hid a precious prize-winning lottery ticket in an old suitcase almost missed out when she forgot where she had put it.

The woman, Srijana Wosti, 41, of Silver Spring, in the US state of Maryland, said that when she checked the ticket, she thought she had won a USD 50 (GBP 40) prize.

Only when she scanned the ticket at the Kemp Mill Beer, Wine and Deli in Silver Spring in June, she realised she had scooped a USD 50,000 (GBP 40,600)prize.

Terrified she might lose it before cashing it in, she had hidden it in the old suitcase for safekeeping.

She told her friends and family about the ticket and planned the big day when she would claim it, but suddenly realised that she had forgotten where she had hidden it.

She told lottery officials that she was terrified the ticket would end up no longer valid and had scoured the house before finally finding it in the suitcase where she had placed it months earlier.

She said: “I was so relieved to find it, and to know I wasn’t too late.”

She had paid USD 5 for the Family Feud scratch-off ticket saying that she chose it because she liked watching the show where the winning tickets were revealed.

She said: “I like to watch the show on television, and I like that Steve Harvey.”