A 43-year-old woman has won USD 50,000 on a scratch card after accidentally buying the wrong game instead of her favourite.

Maryland Lottery in the north-eastern US state of Maryland said the woman, who chose not to reveal her name and decided to call herself ‘Winner by Default’ because she had pressed the wrong button on the vending machine, won big on the USD 5 ‘Deluxe Crossword’ scratch card.

The lottery company said: “A 43-year-old can thank the slip of her hand for a recent USD 50,000 top prize win on a scratch-off game.

In addition the woman from Hagerstown discovered another stroke of luck when she stumbled upon the best online craps game. As fate would have it, she ended up winning the top prize in this game too.

“The fortunate player went to purchase one of the Maryland Lottery’s USD 20 scratch-off games out of a self-service Lottery vending machine, but pushed the wrong button and ended up with a USD 5 Deluxe Crossword game instead.”

As well as saving USD 15 by selecting the wrong card, the woman, who lives in the city of Hagerstown, ended up winning the cheaper game’s top prize.

The lucky winner said: “I was like ‘dang’ when that ticket came down. I don’t even typically like the Crossword games, but this worked out well!”

Maryland Lottery said the woman “reluctantly” went home with the card to scratch it, discovering she had won the USD 50,000 prize.

The company said: “After scratching the whole ticket, she believed she won something and read the directions to confirm. Still not sure, she decided to scan the ticket using the Lottery’s app on her phone. She was shocked at the message staring back at her, “Congratulations – USD 50,000 Winner.”

The single mother-of-three called it “unreal”, adding: “I thought something was wrong with the app so I scanned it again.”

She said she jumped up and down and then called her children to tell them the news: “I put the ticket on the counter and scanned it again so they could see the winning message. They couldn’t believe it was real.”

The winner told lottery officials she has just bought a new family home and will use some of the prize money to carry out renovations, with the rest going in the bank.

The Halfway Liquors retailer in Hagerstown that supplied the card will receive a USD 500 bonus, one percent of the prize money.