BALTIMORE—A St. Mary’s County couple successfully cracked open the Maryland Lottery’s Money Vault scratch-off and captured its top prize of $30,000.
The husband-and-wife team employed the perfect combination of strategy and luck to achieve their mission. The husband always buys the instant tickets, the wife always scratches them off and they cross their fingers that Lottery luck will show up to put some cha-ching back in their pockets. This hefty prize is their biggest win yet!
The husband spotted a clue that luck was in the air while visiting Brandywine Liquors at 14121 Brandywine Road in Prince George’s County. “They called themselves the lucky store,” he said, noting that the store backed up its claim with a display of a $5,000 winning scratch-off and other good-sized wins. “I had some extra dollars so I bought several tickets,” the private contractor said. “I usually spend $10 a pop.”
He then handed the scratch-offs over to his wife. A government worker, she took the tickets to lunch with her and scratched them off. The winning ticket was the last one in the bunch.
“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I was shaking and confused. I showed it to my co-workers and it was comical to watch them.” They assured her the ticket was a winner, got her to sign the back of the ticket and then took photos of it before she went to Lottery headquarters in Baltimore.
“I still can’t believe it,” she said. “You don’t ever expect to win.”
Her co-workers are sworn to secrecy and the couple do not plan to even tell their children about their good fortune. They’ll use the prize to pay bills and finance some home improvements.
For selling the top-tier ticket, the lucky retailer earns a $300 bonus from the Lottery. Four more $30,000 top-prize winning Money Vault tickets are still waiting for purchase in Maryland stores.
Source: Maryland Lottery