For Dittgard Sturgess, of Huntingtown, the luck started the moment she walked in the door. The instant ticket purchase that brought her to Lottery Headquarters on Tuesday almost didn’t happen. She was definitely getting a scratch-off when she stopped to get gas and she even knew which game she’d be playing but, at the last moment, she added one more – Blackjack Blowout. That ticket turned out to be a $50,000 winner.
“The Blackjack game didn’t really interest me since I felt like it had been out for a long time,” Dittgard told officials. “I almost always play the newer games.” Lottery records list Blackjack Blowout as having been removed from in-store inventory earlier this year but then re-issued recently as part of the Winning Hand poker-themed promotion. “I picked my games and then asked the owner to include one Blackjack Blowout ticket. I’m not sure why, it was just a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing.”
A quick scratch in the car, and a second or two to make sure her eyes were working correctly, was followed by a return to the store for confirmation. The owner was very excited, the retired Verizon employee told us, “He told me he’d take me to the Claim Center right then!” The $50,000 will go into savings and Dittgard will continue going to Sherman’s Sunoco – 2270 Solomon’s Island Road in Huntingtown – for gas and Lottery tickets.