"I accidentally hit it a third time." — graduation year becomes lucky numbers
By Kate Northrop
RANDALLSTOWN, Md. — A $2 mistake while purchasing some Pick 5 lottery tickets ended up becoming the happiest accident yet for one Maryland woman, who won a $150,000 prize in a single drawing because of it.
An occasional Maryland lottery player had a mishap while purchasing her Pick 5 tickets that cost her $2, but in reality, the transaction could not have gone any better, save for buying more tickets of course.
The anonymous woman, who the Maryland Lottery describes as an "off-and-on" type of player, decided to buy some tickets according to her usual method. She'll normally purchase two Straight identical tickets for the upcoming two draws. In this case, she bought the tickets for the Sept. 8 Evening and Sept. 9 Midday drawings for Pick 5.
However, she accidentally purchased three plays per draw instead of two, costing her an extra $2 on her total spend.
"I accidentally hit it a third time," she told the Maryland Lottery when recounting her slip up to officials.
But her husband didn't seem to mind, in fact he seemed to find some amusement from the whole ordeal.
"Keep doing it!" he joked while standing at her side as she bought her tickets.
During the Sept. 8 Evening draw, the Pick 5 game drew the results 2-0-2-5-0, matching all five numbers on her ticket in exact order.
The occasional lottery player said she's had great luck with the lottery in the past, having won $50,000 and $25,000 prizes before, but this most recent win took her by surprise.
"I couldn't believe it!" she recalled in a press release. "I kept looking at the numbers."
Her habit of purchasing two identical tickets would have rewarded her with two $50,000 prizes totaling $100,000, but that extra ticket tacked on an additional $50,000 to bring her total win to $150,000.
Her numbers were easy for her to remember, she said to Lottery staff, since she had a grandson who graduated high school this year. She took the year "2025" and simply added a "0" to the end to create her winning Pick 5 combination.
As it turned out, she also won two $5,000 prizes the following day on boxed bet tickets, which added $10,000 on to an already decently sized win. She claimed those two prizes at an Expanded Cashing Authority Program location, which are Maryland Lottery retailers that are eligible to pay out prizes less than or equal to $5,000 in value.
Her previous $50,000 win was used to replace her furnace and air conditioner years ago, and since much time has passed since then, this most recent prize will help pay for it again.
"Last time I hit for $50,000 I got a new furnace and air conditioner and paid cash," the Baltimore County winner explained. "I'm going to do the same this time."
Since her prize is triple that amount, she'll put the leftover winnings into savings.
For selling the winning ticket, Carroll Motor Fuels on Liberty Road in Randallstown receives bonuses totaling $1,500 from the Lottery.
The odds of winning the top prize in Pick 5 by matching all five winning numbers in exact order are 1 in 100,000. Drawings take place twice a day at 12:28 p.m. and 7:56 p.m. EST.
All winning numbers, prizes, and odds are published on Lottery Post's Maryland Lottery Results page right after each drawing.
Two new furnaces. I would look into the reason the first new furnace she bought conked out before installing another new one.
I buy mistakes when I can. You just never know.
"Happy little accidents." -Bob Ross 👩🏽🦱
She is a lucky woman to have won that many times.
A few times I have told the store clerk
"I will get one PB, no power play, just $2"
Then they print a $3 ticket, I always take it, I tell them
"$1 won't ruin my retirement"
Congratulations 🎉 on the win and the new furnace.
I think that you should leave out the "no powerplay" part when buying a Powerball without the powerplay option becuz I think it's commonly understood that when buying a Powerball ticket it's just Powerball only
Clerks half hear what you say when you say 'without' ... They probably hear' with'.
Another words w hen you say no powerplay they hear you say poweplay.
Just saying
I have the same problem when I buy individual tickets .... If I say I want 5 Powerball ,(with powerplay, by the way) on single tickets . . They don't hear the s at the end of tickets and think I want 5 Powerball on a single ticket.
That's why I say individual( hoping they know what that means) or better yet separate .
I get nervous that there will be mistake tickets and they might be winners
...
You know what I do ?
I go to the clerk and tell him or her that I have let's say 21 dollars to spend and I'd like to purchase 7 Powerball with powerplay on separate tickets.
Sometimes I have my order written out and I pass it to the clerk.
Remember the liverwurst and oliveloaf.
ShagE3
I totally agree with you, we all have some selective hearing I guess.
The problem is they always ask "Do you want the power play?"
I think am helping by saying everything in one sentence, maybe am not.
It's always better when I say "Give me a $2 Powerball"
To which they ask, "Do you want one ticket"
🤣🤣🤣
In some places with more cultural diversity, sometimes it's easier to fill in the play slip, then language is not a barrier.
Just a little footnote ..... I was just looking at all the stories on Yahoo com and lo and behold ..... Oliveloaf was featured.
Who wudda thought?! 🤔
ShagE3....does your state have Double Play?
We do and I opt for the four dollar option, PP & DP.
Todd, there's a story for you...post how many states offer Double Play!
The always-updated list of Double Play states is already included both on Lottery Post and on USA Mega. (LP does not list USVI because we don't yet cover that jurisdiction's lottery results.)
No Bleu it doesn't.
I give you credit .... You've got all bases covered but between that and MegaMillions it's 9 dollars for basically three draws.
I dunno what I would do if my state offered double play .... I don't know.
ShagE3
@ShagE3
You do have a double play option!
Just buy two tickets as so- one ticket like 1,2,3,4,5 PB1 and another
1,2,3,4,5 PB2
That way if you match 5 numbers you get two one million dollar prizes the same as power play and you get two chances at the full jackpot instead of one shot at the big jackpot and one shot at the booby prize.
You also get two shots at 50k
It's the same 4 bucks but if you are going for the big jackpot and you match ,5 wouldn't you rather have the two shots at the big pot,? Who knows if you'd ever come that close again.
So if you are in a state without double play you can do your own and have better chances at the big one.
I get what you are saying.
This number 2-0-2-0-5 played AGAIN in Delaware Daytime today: September 19th. It's a popular number. I recommend playing in DC, MD, VA, OH, FL, GA, & PA.