ALBION — The Albion Corner Store could add “gift shop” to its name.

A lottery ticket bought recently at the Albion Corner Store and given as a birthday present turned out to be a $250,000 winner.

Cathy Varney, the owner of the market, said she didn’t know who received the $10 Money Bag Multiplier as a gift, but she said she does know who bought the scratch-off ticket.

Varney said Monday morning that she would check with the buyer to ask about an interview, but as of deadline Monday, the gift-giver hadn’t called.

The odds of winning $250,000 — the maximum payoff for the ticket — are 1 in 180,000, according to the Maine State Lottery website.

It turned out that the person celebrating a birthday wasn’t the only winner.

Varney said the store, at the intersection of China, Winslow, Benton and Unity roads, got a prize for selling the winning ticket.

She said she wasn’t sure of the amount. The store’s employees split the prize.

“They were pretty happy,” she said.

Varney said the ticket was the first big winner sold at the store in the two years she has owned it.

She said the Lakeside Country Store in China, which she also owns, sold a $100,000 ticket about a decade ago.

Since 1974, the Maine State Lottery has awarded more than $2.2 billion in prizes, according to its website. In 2011, the lottery paid $14 million in commissions and bonuses to about 1,300 lottery retail agents, according to the site.

Morning Sentinel Staff Writer Beth Staples can be contacted at 861-9252 or at: bstaples@centralmaine.com