Maryland Woman Wins $50,000 with 'Afterthought' Lottery Ticket

A Maryland woman went into a gas station with Powerball on her mind but ended up walking out with an additional ticket she considered “an afterthought,” lottery officials said.

The 57-year-old Forestville woman bought a Powerball ticket at Forestville Exxon in District Heights and didn’t consider buying a Cash Money instant ticket until she got her change back, according to a Sept. 27 news release from the Maryland Lottery.

She couldn’t believe she’d won $50,000 when looking at the ticket after dinner, officials said.

“I was there for a Powerball ticket only, but when the $5 change came back, I asked for the first $5 scratch ticket I saw,” the winner told lottery officials. T

he woman saw the $50,000 match and thought she was “somehow reading it incorrectly” so she asked a relative visiting for a “second set of eyes,” according to the release. Although the win was real, the winner “still wasn’t convinced,” officials

“I just knew it couldn’t be real right up to the moment that the Lottery told me it was,” the winner said in the release.

The woman didn’t specify what the money would go toward but was “perfectly happy settling” for the win, officials said.

This win means there’s only one more top prize for the $5 Cash Money scratch-off game to be found, the release said. District Heights is about 50 miles southwest of Baltimore.