Oct. 21 (UPI) -- A Maryland Lottery player who kept encountering the number 29000 decided to play it in a Pick 5 drawing and ended up winning more than $250,000.

The Washington, D.C., resident told Maryland Lottery officials she first encountered the number when it was emblazoned on the side of an airplane she saw on the news.

The player said she spotted the number a second time a few days later on a package of cashews she bought as a snack.

"I almost never buy cashews," she said.

The woman took the coincidence as a sign and bought tickets for the Oct. 25 evening Pick 5 drawing from at the BP gas station on Eastern Avenue in Mount Rainier.