Woman buys $5 scratch-off in Maryland and wins big. ‘Couldn’t calculate it all’

A woman bought a $5 scratch-off and was left “overwhelmed” after checking it with her husband, Maryland officials said.

The state employee usually plays Keno in addition to scratch-offs and bought a “handful of them” in Fallston, according to a May 30 news release by the Maryland Lottery.

She had no idea one of the Monopoly X20 games she bought would be carrying a $50,000 prize, officials said.

The Baltimore County woman usually checks her ticket by scanning the barcode but decided she’d actually scratch it this time, officials said.

“I didn’t cheat this time and did it the long way,” she told lottery officials.

At first, she scratched the winning numbers, then decided to check her own, officials said.

“I scratched under that 26 and saw $5,000, and thought ‘OK, I’ve won something’,” she said in the release. “Then there was another $5,000 and another. … I just couldn’t calculate it all.”

That’s when she asked her husband for help with the math and his eyes grew “big,” officials said.

The lucky winner said she doesn’t have any concrete plans for the money other than to save it, officials said.

Fallston is about a 20-mile drive northeast from Baltimore.

This story was originally published May 30, 2025 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Woman buys $5 scratch-off in Maryland and wins big. ‘Couldn’t calculate it all’."