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Jeffrey Titcomb smiles for the camera as he collects his |
Hits it big playing Double Dollar Fortune
A Gaithersburg man whose lunchtime routine involves playing Maryland Lottery scratch-offs in his cubicle attracted his co-workers’ attention last week when he noisily scratched away and then failed to report a win or loss.
Jeffrey Titcomb, a funeral director and undertaker at DeVol Funeral Home in Gaithersburg, scratched away at a $20 ticket last week and then became very, very quiet. His co-workers routinely “listen to the groundhog scratching,” Jeffrey said, smiling, and when the sound stops they usually ask, “Well, anything?” if he fails to announce a win or nothing at all.
He’s scratched off $3,000 and $5,000 winners in the past but on this day, the speechless 51-year-old stared down at what he thought was a $10,000 winning Double Dollar Fortune scratch-off ticket. “I wondered, should I say anything?” he remembered, as he told the story of his win to Lottery officials in Baltimore. He quietly finished scratching the ticket and, to his shock, saw he’d won $50,000. The elated winner very quietly muttered to himself, “Oh my.”
That comment ignited his co-workers into action. They gathered around his cubicle to see the ticket and pass it around. “You’re a thousandaire,” one co-worker quipped. Jeffrey grabbed his phone to call Deborah, his wife of 13 years, who is a former special education teacher staying at home to care for an ill parent. The win didn’t seem real to Deborah until she entered the Winners’ Lounge and saw clapping Maryland Lottery employees greeting them and her husband’s name on a giant Maryland Lottery check. Reality hit and Deborah turned to Jeffrey, giving him a big hug and a kiss and saying, “Oh, congratulations!” The two of them gazed at the check, all smiles. “This didn’t hit me until we walked into this room,” Deborah said.
How will these Maryland natives spend their winnings?
“I haven’t noodled this all through,” Jeffrey said, but volunteered several ideas.
The couple will celebrate their Lottery win and their life together on Aug. 15, the anniversary of their first date, he said. A fall vacation to somewhere tropical is now possible, too. Some of the winnings will go into investments and their retirement fund. Last but not least, a new vehicle might join the to-buy list, since “the car started smoking on the way here,” Deborah said, laughing.
A lifelong Lottery player, Jeffrey began playing scratch-offs at age 18 while working as a 7-Eleven store clerk. He began buying higher-priced scratch-offs over the years to improve his odds of winning. He also buys tickets sequentially and checks the Lottery website, mdlottery.com, to see which scratch-offs have high prizes still available. After playing the Get Riches scratch-off with no big win, “I thought I’d change it up,” he said. Choosing the Double Dollar Fortune scratch-off led to his good fortune.
Jeffrey bought his lucky ticket at Grove Beer N Wine at 16825 Crabbs Branch Way in Rockville.