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The woman, who chose to remain anonymous and went under the alias "2024 Better" is feeling lucky after reeling in a $41,780 jackpot playing the "FAST PLAY Gold Fish" game.
According to Lottery officials, the winner's doctor is in Maryland, so she frequents the state regularly, and last week, she and her husband stopped at Hardesty's Liquors on Crain Highway in Newburg.
The jackpot for the Feb. 28 drawing had remained unclaimed until recently.
Officials said that the woman had been eyeing that specific ticket since the jackpot topped $20,000, prompting her to try her luck on a trio of tickets that landed her unexpected windfall of cash.
She was disappointed at first, when the initial two drawings came up blank; however, her fortunes changed when she realized she was holding on to a golden ticket worth more than $40,000.
“I just kept glaring at the ticket,” she said, realizing she matched three frog symbols for the progressive jackpot win. “I couldn’t settle myself down, I had trouble breathing.”
She shared the news with her husband of 42 years and a friend, who also shares her affinity for the Gold Fish game.
In a bit of irony, the winner, a retired federal government statistician, says she plans to use the money to pay of some of the medical bills she accrued before picking up the ticket while visiting her doctor in Maryland.
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