Her football team lost, but a $5 lottery ticket delivered the ultimate comeback.
WASHINGTON, DC – A 28-year-old DC woman who had never played a scratch-off lottery ticket in her life decided to give it a shot after watching her beloved Philadelphia Eagles lose. That spontaneous $5 purchase turned into a $50,000 payday, making her the first player to claim a top prize on Maryland’s new Hello Money! scratch-off game.
The woman, who is using the alias Go Birds, purchased the winning ticket at a Wawa convenience store at 9600 Fort Meade Road in Laurel while accompanying her mother on a routine lottery shopping trip. What started as an attempt to shake off a disappointing football game quickly became a moment neither woman could believe.
The first-time player claimed her $50,000 prize at Maryland Lottery headquarters in Baltimore on Tuesday, October 13. According to the Lottery’s October 14 announcement, she had grown up watching her mother play scratch-offs but had never been interested in trying one herself.
Eagles Fan Turns Football Frustration Into $50K Lottery Win
The Washington, DC, resident has always been cautious about spending money on games of chance, despite her mother’s enthusiasm for scratch-off tickets.
“I don’t like to gamble, I don’t like to lose money,” she told Maryland Lottery officials.
But after her favorite football team lost, she decided to try something different.
The Eagles fan, who also has a soft spot for the Baltimore Ravens and calls them her “fellow birds,” accompanied her mother to the Laurel Wawa for her regular lottery purchases.
This time, the daughter bought a $5 Hello Money! scratch-off ticket for herself.
Both women scratched their tickets while sitting in the car before heading home. That’s when the first-time player spotted something that seemed almost impossible.
Her ticket appeared to be worth $50,000.
She immediately showed it to her mother, who examined the ticket and agreed that it looked like a winner.
There was just one problem: neither woman was entirely convinced.
Family Double-Checks Winning Ticket Before Celebration Begins
A few weeks earlier, the woman’s mother had mistakenly believed she held a winning scratch-off ticket, only to learn that she had misread it.
That previous disappointment made the daughter reluctant to celebrate too early.
Instead, she took the ticket home and asked her sister to examine it.
Her sister checked the ticket and confirmed what the mother and daughter had suspected. The $5 scratch-off really was worth $50,000.
Once the family was convinced, the celebration began.
The excited winner immediately called her other three sisters to share the news, turning a routine family lottery stop into an unforgettable occasion.
The woman became the first person to claim one of the game’s $50,000 top prizes, according to the Maryland Lottery.
First Hello Money! Top-Prize Winner Has Her Eye on a New Car
The unexpected windfall already has a destination.
The winner plans to put her $50,000 prize toward purchasing a new car, turning her first experience with a scratch-off into a major financial boost.
The lucky ticket was purchased at Wawa, located at 9600 Fort Meade Road in Laurel, Maryland.
The convenience store will receive a $500 bonus from the Maryland Lottery for selling the top-prize ticket.
The new Hello Money! game costs $5 per play and offers $50,000 as its top prize.
For the DC woman who had never been interested in scratch-offs, a disappointing football game and a spontaneous decision to join her mother in playing the lottery produced an extraordinary result.
Her beloved Eagles may have lost that day, but Go Birds walked away with something worth celebrating.
The $50,000 ticket was sold at the same Laurel Wawa where another customer purchased a $50,000 winning scratch-off earlier this year, as previously reported by Shore News Network.