A lucky woman has scooped USD 50,000 on the lottery after a stranger wished her to hit big when she was buying a scratchcard.

The 59-year-old lottery player who called herself ‘Miracles Happen’ was reportedly buying a Powerball ticket at Wawa in the town of Bel Air, Maryland State, USA, when the unknown person walked by.

She recalled how the person wished her well and hoped she would win a million dollars in the drawing on 2nd September, before she headed home and took a look at the USD 10 (GBP 8) five-line ticket.

The woman said: “I remember seeing the first line and it was odd that the numbers were so high. That is all that I remember.”

She was surprised the next day when she realised that the unique first set of numbers, 25, 38, 59, 66, and 67, as well as Powerball number 19, turned out to be a USD 50,000 (GBP 40,384) winner.

Maryland Lottery said: “The winning number that she needed to claim the full jackpot was 42 instead of 59.”

Upon collecting her prize at lottery headquarters, the ‘Miracles Happen’ said she was very grateful for the prize and thanked the person who wished her a million-dollar win.

She added: “It wasn’t quite a million but I will take it.”

The lucky lady revealed she plans to use the money to pay the bills and use the rest to fund her retirement.

Lottery representatives said: “Her lucky Lottery retailer also gains bragging rights to the big sale.

“Our winner gets another chance to aim for the full jackpot this Saturday and so do you.

“The jackpot for the Saturday, 16th September, drawing has an estimated annuity of USD 596 million [GBP 481 million] and an estimated cash option of USD 288.2 million [GBP 232.7 million].

“This is the third time in 2023 the jackpot has topped half a billion dollars.”