Mom buys Powerball ticket in Maryland — and the prize is so big it doesn’t ‘seem real’

A mom and daughter were blown away after landing a huge lottery prize, Maryland officials said.

The first Powerball drawing of 2025 left them with a third-tier prize of $150,000, according to a Jan. 17 news release by the Maryland Lottery.

On Jan. 1, the mom was out when she decided to buy a few tickets in Arbutus, officials said.

“It blew me away with all the confetti and music,” the mom told the lottery. “It was very exciting.”

She made sure to buy her daughter a few tickets as well, the release said, including a $2 Quick Pick with the Power Play for an additional $1, officials said.

Then she put the tickets away.

Later she went to scan the tickets and learned of the huge win, prompting her to wake up her sleeping daughter, lottery officials said.

“I told her, ’you hit, you hit, your ticket hit,’” the mother told her daughter, according to the lottery.

The daughter, who was still groggy and confused, said “what ticket?” lottery officials said.

“It’s funny because I forgot all about that ticket,” she told officials. “It still does not seem real.”

The duo matched four of the white balls and the red Powerball which would normally result in a $50,000 win, but because of the X3 Power Play multiplier that was added, they landed $150,000, the release said.

The two were only one number away from landing the $178 million prize, officials said.

Although the pair are unsure of what they’ll do with the money, they plan to split the winnings, the release said.

Arbutus is about a 10-mile drive southwest of Baltimore.

This story was originally published January 17, 2025 at 5:55 PM with the headline "Mom buys Powerball ticket in Maryland — and the prize is so big it doesn’t ‘seem real’."