 Loyal Bonus Match 5 player Bettie Blount of Washington, D.C., lands the $50,000 top prize in the game’s July 12 drawing plus a little more. |
Washington, D.C., resident wins $50,000
Why did Bettie Blount cross the Washington, D.C. district line? To play Maryland Lottery games, of course!
Just because she lives in the district doesn’t stop this loyal player from pursuing her love of the Lottery’s Bonus Match 5 game. That loyalty just paid off, too. She claimed a $50,017 win in the Lottery’s July 12 drawing, matching additional numbers to add the $17 to her $50,000 top prize!
Bettie said she buys Bonus Match 5 tickets for the Saturday and Sunday drawings every week. Living in Washington, D.C., she can’t watch the televised drawings because she doesn’t receive WBAL TV’s signal. She went to her computer Sunday night to check the numbers on mdlottery.com and found out she won big!
The lucky lady didn’t immediately share the news with anyone – not even with her brother, who accompanied her to Lottery headquarters in Baltimore to claim her prize. “He just found out today how much it was,” Bettie said. “He knew I won, but he thought it was $5,000.”
The 79-year-old winner is retired from the Interstate Commerce Commission and spends time volunteering for Family Matters of Greater Washington, a social services organization that assists vulnerable citizens. She’s bought Bonus Match 5 tickets for about 10 years, and also has plays Powerball and Mega Millions. Her largest prize, before this win, was $400.
Bettie plans to put her prize into savings, pay some bills, give some cash to her family and make a donation to her church, Bethel Baptist in Southeast Washington, D.C.
She purchased her winning ticket at Tops Liquors, located at 4422 Wheeler Road in Oxon Hill. And, her good fortune makes the retailer a winner as well. Tops Liquors will receive a $500 bonus from the Maryland Lottery for selling the winning ticket.