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Winning the lottery couldn't have come at a better time for Landover resident Paula Evans, who is unemployed, has medical bills for a son with disabilities and college tuition bills to pay.

Evans, 39, won $1 million Tuesday through the Maryland Lottery's Ultimate Payday scratch-off mail-in contest.

"I thank God for his blessing upon me and my children," Evans said.

Evans, who is unemployed and a first-year nursing student at Prince George's Community College in Largo, said she bought a $20 scratch-off ticket about a year ago at a gas station but did not win any money from the ticket. Evans said when she did buy a lottery ticket — as infrequent as once every five months — she would usually only spend $5 per ticket.

She mailed in the ticket in November, which had a top-prize draw symbol, making her eligible to enter to win $1 million.

Evans' entry was one of 44,000 submitted, said Gail Pelovitz, a spokeswoman for the Maryland State Lottery.

Evans, a certified nursing assistant since 1995, has been unemployed for the past two or three years. She is the caregiver for her son, James Evans, 18, who has cerebral palsy, and wants to be home for her son, Deshawn Evans, 17, a rising senior at Fairmont Heights High School in Capitol Heights.

"[I have been] struggling to make ends meet, definitely, yes," Evans said. "It is really a blessing to be picked out of 44,000 people."

Evans said she plans to use her winnings, about $657,000 after taxes, to pay for the medical bills for her son James and to pay for the tuition for her daughter, Lenysa Evans, 21, a rising junior at Towson University, and son Deshawn, who plans to attend Towson University next fall.

Evans began playing the lottery about a year ago.

"I just said, ‘Let me try,'" she said. "I just said, ‘You never know.'"

Evans said she received an e-mail this weekend from the Maryland Lottery, informing her that she was a finalist. When she arrived at the Maryland Lottery's office in Baltimore on Tuesday morning, she realized she was the only finalist.

"When I got here, they said, ‘We're going to take you back with the other finalists.' They walked me back and when they opened up the door, there were cameras everywhere and a check with my name on it," Evans said.

Evans said she is thankful and very blessed.

"I feel great, and it came just at the right time," Evans said. "To have one ticket out of 44,000 — that was definitely God's doing."

E-mail Liz Skalski eskalski@gazette.net.