The Aceituno-Pineda family of Salisbury is planning a bright future for their family after winning $77,777 playing the Maryland 7s scratch-off game. From left, Daniz Aceituno, Claudia and Santos Pineda. |
Finds top-prize instant ticket in Maryland 7s game
A Wicomico County family is still celebrating after winning $77,777 on the Maryland 7s scratch-off game. A brother, sister and her husband play Lottery games together and just claimed the instant ticket’s top prize, which will go into their kids’ college funds.
Claudia Aceituno purchased the $5 Maryland 7s game, as well as a few other instant tickets, at Country Farm in Salisbury while running errands. She gathered the games for the Aceituno-Pineda family and waited until she got home to play them. The $77,777 win appeared right away.
“The first line revealed the ‘7’ symbol with the $77,777 prize right under,” said Claudia. “I immediately called my husband to tell him.”
“It was very exciting,” said Santos Pineda, Claudia’s husband. “I still can’t believe it.”
They then alerted Claudia’s brother Daniz, the third member of their scratch-off trio. “This is a very special time for our family,” Daniz said.
The Aceituno-Pineda family wasted no time claiming the prize. The trio made the three-hour trek from Salisbury to Baltimore to turn in the winning scratch-off the next day.
Asked what the winning threesome will do with the prize, they agreed the windfall is going into the bank for their children’s college fund.
The lucky retailer that sold the winning instant ticket, Country Farm at 821 Priscilla Street, is part of the celebration, too. The Wicomico County store earns a bonus of $777 from the Lottery for selling a top-prize scratch-off in the game. The bonus is equal to 1 percent of the prize.
There are still big prizes to be won on the Maryland 7s game. There is one $77,777 top prize, two $5,000 prizes and thousands of prizes from $7 to $1,000.