Lottery player thought she won $50, then checked her ticket again. ‘Can’t be real’

A grocery store employee thought she won $50 on a scratch-off lottery ticket during her break in Maryland.

When she double checked, she saw the prize was much bigger, and she asked her co-worker to confirm.

The mother of two actually won a $150,000 top prize, the Maryland Lottery said in a June 20 news release.

“I thought, ‘This can’t be real,’” she told lottery officials.

Once the Salisbury woman confirmed her prize, she called her husband to tell him the news.

“It was so hard to believe that she won, because I am the one who plays,” he told lottery officials. “I had to see it for myself, so I immediately drove to her work.”

When he got there, he gave her a huge hug, she said. A few weeks later, they were finally able to make the trip to lottery headquarters to claim the prize.

The winner told lottery officials she plans to put the money in her savings.

She won the first of five top prizes in the $150,000 Extreme scratch-off game, which debuted in March, the Maryland Lottery said.

She bought her ticket at Union Latina in Salisbury, part of Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

This story was originally published June 21, 2024 at 4:11 PM with the headline "Lottery player thought she won $50, then checked her ticket again. ‘Can’t be real’."