Grandma sneaks off to buy lottery ticket while husband loads groceries. It paid off

As her husband was busy loading groceries into the car, the Maryland woman snuck off, lottery officials said.

She went back into Giant Food and bought a $5 Lucky Riches scratch-off from the vending machine, according to Maryland Lottery officials in an Oct. 17 news release.

She scratched off the prize check area and took it to a person working at the store to have it quickly scanned, the release said.

“She came away from her counter to me and said I won,” the woman told officials.

When she got back to the car, she told her husband she had won $5,000 on her last-minute scratch-off, according to lottery officials.

She was off by a zero.

To verify the win, the couple told officials they took the ticket to another store, where they learned the actual amount — $50,000.

“Goofy Ruthie,” she said.

She had snagged one of eight top prizes in the Lucky Riches game, which debuted in February, according to lottery officials.

The Baltimore grandmother, now in her 80s, often had a scratch-off ticket in her purse when her three kids were growing up, her daughter told lottery officials when they went to collect the prize.

Lately, the daughter said she hadn’t seen her mom with a scratch-off, although she still always stuffed adult family members’ stockings with them.

Her $5 scratch-off has paid off in dividends. She plans to share some of the money with her children but told lottery officials her husband said “he didn’t want anything.”

Only two top prizes in the Lucky Riches game remain, according to Maryland officials.

This story was originally published October 18, 2023 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Grandma sneaks off to buy lottery ticket while husband loads groceries. It paid off."