A Maryland woman who stopped for a snack at a convenience store remembered her father's recently lottery luck at the same business and ended up winning $50,000 from a scratch-off ticket.
The 23-year-old Frederick County woman told Maryland Lottery officials she was buying a snack from the High's store in Thurmont when she remembered her father had recently won a significant prize from a scratch-off ticket he had purchased from the same store.
"I was in line to pay when I saw the lottery sign, and that's when I remembered," the player recalled. "I decided right then to get a scratch-off, and this was the one that caught my eye."
The woman selected a $50,000 Cash scratch-off ticket and was initially disappointed to find only one winning number.
"I thought there would have been four or five chances to win, but when I scratched the prize under the one match, I wasn't disappointed anymore," she said.
The player initially thought she had won $5,000.
"I was so excited. I'd never won anything like that much before," she said.
A second look revealed she had actually won the $50,000 top prize.
"It was stunning, like nothing that's ever happened to me before. I could not believe it. It's hard to believe even now," she told officials.
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The winner said her prize money will go toward paying off her college loans.