Maryland woman uses license plate number to win lottery prize

Feb. 24 (UPI) -- A Maryland woman said she turned misfortune into monetary fortune when she used the license plate number from her wrecked car to win a $25,000 lottery prize.

The Columbia woman told Maryland Lottery officials she decided to try the new Pick 5 game on Valentine's Day and she bought a 50-cent ticket using the numbers from the license plate of her car, which recently had to be towed from the scene of a minor crash.

The player said she was shocked to check the results the following day and see that she had won $25,000.

"I called my friend and said, 'Can you believe this?'" the winner recalled.

The woman said she is using her prize money to put down the deposit on a new convertible.