He plays a Maryland Lottery scratch-off game every morning, a retired steel worker told Lottery officials this week. The 66-year-old gets up early, buys a cup of coffee at the store, gets an instant ticket and goes home to start his day. He’s followed this schedule for years but his routine on Wednesday was anything but, thanks to a top-prize winning Maryland 7s instant ticket.
“I’ve been playing it for a week or two now,” the Glen Burnie resident told us when asked why he’d chosen the Maryland 7s game. “I’ve had pretty good luck with the game. Nothing, though, that made me think this might happen.”
When scratching off his lucky ticket, the Anne Arundel County man noticed a symbol he’d not seen before. “It took me a minute to realize what that little 7 meant … and then I scratched beneath it.” Uncovering the $77,777 top prize stunned him. “I thought to myself, ‘I finally hit it!’ ”
His Lottery windfall is bound for his savings account. “This certainly makes retirement a little easier, more worry free,” he said. Maryland 7s still has five unclaimed top prizes of $77,777 and thousands of others ranging from $7 to $5,000. This time, the winning scratch-off came in the Lottery ball design, which is one of seven in the game along with the crab claw and Black Eyed-Susans.
Royal Farms # 112 at 3505 Washington Boulevard in Baltimore also benefits from this win. The Baltimore County retailer earns a $777 bonus from the Lottery for selling a top-prize scratch-off in the game.