Lottery player almost threw out winning ticket — until Maryland co-worker stopped her

An avid lottery player walked into a grocery store to scan her tickets as she had done many times before. She walked out thinking she had won nothing, the Maryland Lottery reported.

The 51-year-old caregiver from Baltimore had scanned the tickets, barely glancing at them as she did. Figuring they were all non-winners, she went into work, where she took them out again to throw them away, she told lottery officials. That’s when her co-worker spotted the lucky numbers.

“I stepped away for a few minutes and my friend noticed that one of the tickets had a number combination that we’d been talking about recently,” she said, according to the lottery. “She scanned it on her Lottery app and it came up a big winner. When I returned, she told me and I was blown away.”

After thinking she only had non-winners on her hands, she was happy she had won something. But she still didn’t realize just how much she had scored in the July 19 drawing.

“I almost always buy Pick 5 tickets for 25 cents, so I figured my winner was $2,500,” the woman told lottery officials.

Her ticket was actually a $1 straight-bet purchase, making her win worth the $50,000 top prize.

“It was an amazing moment,” she said.

The caregiver was not the only winner of the day. The management at the Giant store in Baltimore where she bought the ticket will receive $500.

“I’ve been taking care of people for so long, it’ll be nice to take care of myself a little bit,” the winner said.

This story was originally published July 26, 2023 at 2:54 PM with the headline "Lottery player almost threw out winning ticket — until Maryland co-worker stopped her."