Happy newlyweds Rick Buxton and Sabine Barreda of Phoenix celebrate their $7,777 White Ice 7s Maryland Lottery scratch-off win. |
Phoenix couple claim $7,777 White Ice 7s top prize
Happy newlyweds Rick Buxton and Sabine Barreda of Phoenix are still celebrating a winner of an evening out that featured games of Ping Pong, pizza and a $7,777 prize on a Maryland Lottery White Ice 7s scratch-off.
Married in March, the couple and one of their two adult sons went to play Ping Pong at the Top Hat Cue Club in Baltimore County at 8809 Satyr Hill Road. Rick became hungry and took a break to buy pizza. As a second thought, he also purchased three Maryland Lottery instant tickets for the trio to play. Sabine scratched her $2 White Ice 7s instant ticket and revealed a $7,777 win!
“I thought something was wrong,” Sabine said. “It was weird seeing all those 7s.”
In fact, the entire ticket contained only 7s! Eight of the 10 7s carried a $777 prize, one of the 7s carried a doubled $777 prize and one 7 had a $7 prize. So many 7s with different values confused the couple.
“We thought maybe it was just for $777,” said Rick. “We didn’t know because the (ticket) scanner wasn’t working.” They learned about their good fortune after the cashier checked the ticket. “I got out of there real fast,” said Rick, “and I immediately put that ticket in a safe.”
The Baltimore County couple plan to spend their winnings on home improvements and to bring Sabine’s brother from Germany for a visit.
The White Ice 7s game launched in June still has seven $7,777 top-tier tickets remaining in Maryland stores along with eight $1,000 winners and 16 $777 winners.