$50K Prize Won By Silver Spring Woman On Bonus 5 Match Game Ticket

SILVER SPRING, MD — A Silver Spring woman's impulse purchase led to her winning the $50,000 top prize in the Sept. 19 drawing for the Maryland Lottery's Bonus Match 5 game.

The human resources specialist told lottery officials that she usually doesn't buy tickets. “I just never think to get them, even when I’m in stores that sell lottery," she said.

When the woman visited her parents last month, she noticed a store where her father usually bought his tickets. That put the idea in her head to buy a ticket at the next lottery retailer she saw when she drove back home. That turned out to be the Fenton Citgo at 8333 Fenton St. in Silver Spring.

Unsure of why she decided to buy a ticket for the Bonus Match 5 game, the woman told lottery officials that "It just felt right."

“I don’t know why I chose it to play,” the human resources specialist said. “It just felt right.”

Later that night, when the Silver Spring woman checked her numbers on the lottery website, she was shocked and stared at her ticket for several minutes. "‘Oh my goodness,’ I thought. ‘I’m a winner!’” she said.

When the woman returned to her parent's house the next day, her father realized something was going on.

“It was all over her face," he said. "She just looked so excited."

Calling the lottery win a blessing for her family, the Silver Spring residents plans to use her winnings to take care of debt, help her family, and make investments.

For selling the top-prize winning ticket, Fenton Citgo will receive a $500 bonus from the Maryland Lottery.