Lucky player tells of uncanny connection to raffle drawing

By Kate Northrop

PIKESVILLE, Md. — The $1 million winner of the Maryland Lottery's first-ever Holiday Raffle said she believes her late mother had something to do with it.

A Maryland lottery player revealed a coincidental connection between her late mother and the Maryland Lottery's new Holiday Raffle, in which she won the game's $1 million top prize.

Karen L. of Rosedale didn't know it, but she was about to have the greatest start to a new year. The Holiday Raffle ticket she purchased at 7-Eleven on Reisterstown Road in Pikesville was about to deliver her the game's first-ever top prize win of $1 million.

Karen will set a weekly budget for lottery tickets, usually opting for Mega Millions, Powerball, and scratch-off tickets, but she was struck by the novelty of the $20 tickets for the Lottery's new Holiday Raffle.

On Jan. 2, the Lottery drew the winning number 136188, but Karen didn't find out about the win until days later. She scanned her ticket on Jan. 5 using the Lottery's mobile app and was met with a notification that read: "Go to Lottery."

Perhaps she had won one of the ten second-tier prizes of $100,000, she supposed, dampening her expectations that it could really be the $1 million top prize instead. She took the ticket to a store to have it checked and handed it to the clerk, who made an incredible prediction.

"She said to me, 'It's you. I know it's you,'" Karen recalled the moment to Lottery officials.

The clerk was, in fact, correct.

On Jan. 7, two days later, she visited Lottery headquarters in Baltimore to claim her prize and told the Lottery about her suspicions surrounding the win.

It wasn't her ticket number 136188 that stood out to her, she said, rather it was the draw date of Jan. 2, which was her late mother's birthday.

"I think it is my mom again," Karen said to Lottery staff with a grin. "She is helping me with my retirement."

Out of all the tickets numbered 000001 through 237206, hers was the one to win the $1 million prize. With her winnings, she plans on buying a car, taking care of home renovations, and tidying up her finances and savings.

"It still hasn't hit me yet," she remarked in a press release.

The Maryland Lottery Holiday Raffle had 325,000 tickets for sale. In total, the game sold 237,206 tickets. All winning numbers for the Holiday Raffle are available on Lottery Post's Maryland Lottery Results page.

(Click to display full-size in gallery)Karen L. winner of Maryland Lottery's first-ever holiday raffle game, stands proudly with her ceremonial check.