Upper Marlboro grocery employee wins $100,000 Willy Wonka Golden Ticket

Jessica Woods

A randomly selected scratch-off delivered an unexpected shock recently for an Upper Marlboro grocery employee. The essential worker unwrapped her ticket to a new life in the form of a WILLY WONKA GOLDEN TICKET. She won $100,000!

The winner tried her luck with a Lottery vending machine located at Marlboro Village Exxon in Upper Marlboro. With her eyes closed, the 51-year-old reached out for the vending machine’s touch screen. That blind reach was all it took to put the $100,000 winning scratch-off in her hands.

The Prince George’s County resident told Lottery officials that she had stopped at the combination gas station and convenience store to buy something else. Then, curiosity won out when she saw the Lottery’s new touch-screen vending machine. After a clerk showed her how to use the equipment, the player fed $20 into the machine, closed her eyes and touched the screen. She only needed $10 for the WILLY WONKA GOLDEN TICKET that came her way.


Later that evening, the winner scratched off her instant ticket while on the phone with her mother. She uncovered the winning numbers and then began to reveal the numbers on the scratch-off. When she found a match, the player quickly uncovered a prize underneath that soon had her shouting into the phone.

“Right in the middle of our call I started hollering, ‘Thank you, Jesus!’” said the winner.

The happy player said she plans to continue celebrating her big win with her family and use some of the prize to build a deluxe she shed and boost her retirement savings.

The WILLY WONKA GOLDEN TICKET  scratch-off went on sale in Maryland in March, featuring prizes from $10 to $100,000. Our winner found the first of 10 top prizes in the game.

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