CAMBRIDGE, Md. — A Dorchester County man who seldom plays Maryland Lottery games is $100,000 richer after his mother, an avid scratch-off player, unknowingly selected a top-prize winning ticket for him.

The Eastern Shore resident visited Short Stop in Cambridge earlier this week with his mother, who frequently buys $10 and $20 instant tickets. During the visit, she urged him to purchase a ticket, and he agreed. “I was like, ‘I’ll go for a $10 ticket,’” he said. “I let her pick it for me.”

After choosing the $10 Money Rush scratch-off, the man scratched off the ticket’s prize check area and handed it to the store clerk to scan. The clerk printed a slip showing the $100,000 top prize, leaving both the man and his mother in disbelief. “I looked at it and I was like, to my mom, ‘We gotta go,’” the man recalled, adding that his mother was “shaking with excitement.”

Back at home, still in shock, the man realized he hadn’t scratched the full play area. “It was an hour later and I said, ‘I never scratched the numbers to see where they were,’” he said. Upon scratching all the numbers, he confirmed his big win. “It still doesn’t feel real.”

The man, who works in nonprofit management, plans to give a portion of his winnings to his mother for choosing the lucky ticket. He intends to save most of the prize money and may assist other family members financially.

Short Stop, the store where the winning ticket was sold, will receive a $1,000 bonus from the Maryland Lottery. The Money Rush game still has six $100,000 top prizes remaining.

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