A Germantown grandmother is celebrating a remarkable stroke of luck after winning $50,000 in the Maryland Lottery’s Pick 5 game for the second time this year. This latest win came just hours after she demonstrated her integrity at a local honor-system farm stand.
The grandmother, who has chosen to remain anonymous, is a retired postal worker with a routine of playing Pick 3, Pick 4, and Pick 5. Every Tuesday, she gives her grandson money to purchase her lottery tickets for the week.
Among her selections was a $14 Pick 5 ticket for the midday and evening drawings from August 18 to August 25, featuring her favorite numbers: 1-2-9-1-2.
On August 23, those numbers matched perfectly, but she was unaware of her good fortune at the time.
Earlier that day, while running errands with her grandson, they stopped at a roadside farm stand that operates on an honor system, where customers are expected to pay for the items they take. Unfortunately, the grandmother noticed that not everyone was adhering to this system.
“The owners rely on people being honest, and they placed a box for people to pay what they want,” she explained to Maryland Lottery officials. “But people were out there just taking what they wanted and not leaving a penny in the box.”
Determined to do the right thing, she took a moment to find the payment box and ensured she left money for her purchases.
Later that evening, she checked her lottery tickets and was shocked to see her numbers had won. “I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, I hit the five-digit again,’” she recalled. She immediately called her grandson to share the exciting news.
Her grandson agreed that her good deed at the farm stand likely played a role in her win. “I told her it was karma that she won because we paid for our items at the farmer’s stand,” he said.
This $50,000 prize marks her second Pick 5 win of the same amount this year, bringing her total winnings to $100,000 after claiming her first prize in April.
She collected her latest winnings on Tuesday, September 8. Plans for the money include home renovations and savings, with a portion set aside for her grandson, who diligently buys her tickets each week.
For her, the win is more than just a financial boost. “It’s not about the money,” she stated. “It’s about the victory.”
The winning ticket was purchased at Town Center Sunoco on Germantown Road, which will receive a $500 bonus from the Maryland Lottery for selling the winning ticket.
