ANNAPOLIS — An Anne Arundel County event planner who stopped for Thanksgiving groceries the week before the holiday walked away with far more than ingredients: a Powerball ticket worth $50,000 purchased on a whim at an Annapolis Safeway.
The winner, who buys tickets weekly but had no intention of playing that day, claimed her prize Dec. 1 at Maryland Lottery headquarters in Baltimore.
“I really had no intention of playing the Lottery,” she said. “But when I was finishing up, I walked past the counter and just decided to get a ticket.”
She was shopping Wednesday, Nov. 19 — a Powerball drawing night — at the Safeway located at 1781 Forest Drive. Using a mix of lucky numbers, favorites and family birthdays she plays regularly, she bought one quick-pick style line and headed home to cook dinner.
“I remember thinking how great it would be to win $500, which is the most I’ve ever won,” she said.
The winning ticket matched four of the five white balls plus the Powerball in the Nov. 19 drawing, securing the third-tier prize of $50,000.
She discovered the win the next day while eating lunch.
“I checked the ticket on my Lottery app when I was eating,” she said. Even after two or three careful examinations of her numbers and the Powerball result, she was still unconvinced of what she was seeing.
“It was such a shock.”
The winning numbers drawn Nov. 19 were 6, 19, 26, 44, 53 and Powerball 4. The winner’s ticket was one of 29 nationwide that hit the four-plus-Powerball combination.
She plans to place the entire $50,000 prize — after state and federal taxes — into savings.
The Safeway at 1781 Forest Drive received a $500 bonus from the Lottery for selling the third-tier winning ticket.
The win marked the latest in a string of significant Powerball prizes claimed in Anne Arundel County this year. Maryland has seen multiple $50,000 Powerball winners in 2025, with prizes claimed in locations ranging from Baltimore to the Eastern Shore.
Powerball tickets cost $2 per play, or $3 with the Power Play option that can multiply non-jackpot prizes. Drawings are held Monday, Wednesday and Saturday nights at 10:59 p.m.
Players are reminded to sign tickets immediately, check numbers carefully and claim prizes within 182 days of the drawing.
