Washington, D.C., resident Regina Merritt celebrated a $31,617 win on a Racetrax Superfecta Box ticket. |
Security officer takes home $31,617 Lottery prize
A Washington, D.C., resident who loves the Maryland Lottery’s Racetrax game celebrated a $31,617 win last week.
Regina Merritt’s favorite spot to play the computer-animated horse racing game is Eastover Liquors in Oxon Hill, just a short distance from where she lives.
Regina, a security officer for the District of Columbia Public Schools, visited the Prince George’s County store with her fiancé on Sept. 20 to play Racetrax and Keno. She purchased a $24 Racetrax Superfecta Box ticket, choosing the numbers 1, 8, 9 and 12 for one draw.
“The numbers are my fiancé’s birthday and some of my other favorite numbers,” she said, adding that her husband-to-be had stepped out of the store briefly while she played her lucky numbers. When the horses finished 8, 9, 1, 12, Regina was a big winner, but she didn’t know how much she’d won until she saw it on the Racetrax screen.
“I just kept staring at the number,” she said.
When Regina’s fiancé returned to the store he saw her standing in front of the monitor in shock, holding the $31,617 winning ticket, and she told him, “I won.”
The mother of three – two adult children and a 7-year-old – said she kept her ticket with her at all times to avoid misplacing it before she could travel to Lottery headquarters in Baltimore to claim her prize.
Regina and her family recently moved into a new home, and she plans to use some of the prize money to decorate it. The lucky player said she will enjoy the rest.
For selling the winning Racetrax ticket, Eastover Liquors, located at 4909 Indian Head Highway, will receive a $316.17 bonus from the Lottery – equal to 1 percent of the prize value.