Big Powerball jackpot led Maryland woman to test her luck. She had to fight back tears
When a Maryland woman asked a cashier to check her Powerball ticket, the shocked clerk’s eyes “got so big,” according to lottery officials.
The woman was inspired to grab a Powerball ticket for the March 4 drawing after she saw the jackpot rise to $687 million at the time, according to a March 20 Maryland Lottery news release. But instead of checking her ticket the next day, she held onto it for a few weeks, lottery officials said.
The Anne Arundel County resident puts all of her tickets in a “lottery pocket” of her purse and keeps them there until they don’t fit anymore, she told lottery officials. When the pocket filled up most recently, she went to go scan her tickets, including her Powerball ticket, at a Giant Food store in Annapolis.
Then, a message appeared that she never saw before, so she took her ticket to the clerk to check it, according to lottery officials.
“Her eyes got so big when she checked my ticket on the Lottery terminal,” the woman told lottery officials. “She said, ‘We can’t cash that here.’”
Her win totaled $50,000 — a third-tier Powerball prize, according to lottery officials.
“Between the clerk’s reaction and what she told me, I figured that I’d won pretty big,” she said in the release. “My knees were weak and I was trying not to cry, but I held it together until I got in my car.”
The woman rushed to the parking lot to compose herself after getting the exciting news, lottery officials said.
Her winnings will help her pay off medical bills and fund her home improvement projects, the woman told lottery officials.
Many people can gamble or play games of chance without harm. However, for some, gambling is an addiction that can ruin lives and families.
If you or a loved one shows signs of gambling addiction, you can seek help by calling the national gambling hotline at 1-800-522-4700 or visiting the National Council on Problem Gambling website.
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