Son convinces mom to buy $10 lottery tickets in Maryland. Prize sparked ‘tears of joy’

A Delaware mom stopped for snacks with her son and ended up buying a lottery ticket that would score her a big prize, Maryland officials said.

The lucky woman’s son, who loves crossword puzzles, encouraged her to buy two $100,000 Crossword scratch-off tickets after seeing them in a vending machine in Easton, according to a Jan. 8 news release by the Maryland Lottery.

The pair headed back to their car, and she scratched the $10 tickets before heading home, officials said. The first ticket was a dud, but the second landed her a prize of $100,000.

“I started scratching and started to see the words match,” the winner told lotto officials. “I realized we just won $100,000! I won’t believe it’s real until the money is in my hand.”

The winner, who’s never won more than a few hundred dollars, was “shedding tears of joy” as she showed her son the winning ticket, officials said.

The winner told officials this prize was “a blessing,” according to the release.

The woman plans to use the money to go back to school to earn a master’s degree in childhood education, the release said.

She claimed the game’s fourth of eight top prizes, officials said.

Easton is about 70 miles southeast of Baltimore.

This story was originally published January 9, 2024 at 10:20 AM with the headline "Son convinces mom to buy $10 lottery tickets in Maryland. Prize sparked ‘tears of joy’."