Lucky winners Saundra Heard and her husband Troy were ecstatic to find a $60,000 Orioles scratch-off winner in their hometown of La Plata. |
Couple Claim First Top Prize on Maryland Lottery’s Orioles Scratch-Off
Troy and Saundra Heard of La Plata may not be the newest Mega Millions winners, but they certainly have a reason to celebrate. La Plata is not only home to one of the two winning tickets sold in the $414 million Mega Millions jackpot but also to the first lucky winners of the $60,000 top prize on the new Orioles scratch-off.
The Charles County residents’ luck started when Saundra decided to buy four of the Orioles scratch-offs Monday night following an unsuccessful trip to a casino. “We didn’t have much luck at the casino the other night, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try a few scratch-offs,” she said.
Although not a big baseball fan, Saundra went straight for the orange and black Orioles tickets at her local Lottery retailer because she knew there were six, $60,000 top-prize tickets available. Later, after Saundra returned from running errands, she split the four tickets with her husband. “He always gets the first and last tickets to scratch,” she said. “Neither of the tickets I scratched were winners.”
The very last $5 ticket that Troy scratched revealed the $60,000 top prize. “We couldn’t believe it!” he said, laughing. “We were just dancing around and I took the ticket away from Saundra because I was afraid she would damage it. We put it under our TV for safekeeping.”
The couple and their young son celebrated the win together before calling friends with the good news. “I called my girlfriends and they didn’t believe me. I had to send pictures of the ticket to prove it wasn’t an April Fools’ Day joke,” Saundra said, laughing.
The winnings will go toward the house the couple purchased a year ago. “We’ve been renovating our basement, so we’ll put it towards that project,” Troy shared.
Lady Luck found the Heards at ABC Liquors located at 22741 Three Notch Road in California, Md.
There are still five remaining top prizes on the Orioles scratch-off ticket, which launched March 24. Additionally, players can enter non-winning tickets on My Lottery Rewards for the chance to win great second-chance prizes on the Orioles scratch-off such as fan of the game, a trip to watch the Orioles play the Cubs in Chicago or to a game in the 2014 World Series. For more information visit orioles.mdlottery.com.