Lottery

The mystery is over: A Hagerstown couple has come forward to claim the $250,000 winning Mega Millions ticket sold last week at a local Sheetz store. Dixie Sines, a crew chief at Wendy's, and her husband, David, who works in construction, plan to use the prize money to buy a new house, she said. The couple, both 44 years old, have lived with David's parents for about four years, Dixie said. They have been helping care for David's father, who was left partially paralyzed by a stroke last November.

By LISA GRAYBEAL Staff Writer, Waynesboro WAYNESBORO, Pa. - Playing the lottery could be your ticket to a television appearance. The Pennsylvania Lottery is hosting its first televised game show on Saturday, March 8, at 7 p.m. to commemorate its 25th anniversary. The half hour show will be telecast on channels throughout the state that carry the nightly lottery drawing. A "well-known celebrity entertainer," whose name has not be released, will host the show, said Cris Oblack, deputy press secretary at lottery headquarters in Middletown, Pa. "It's the first time we've ever aired a TV game show," Oblack said, adding that the lottery's anniversary committee came up with the idea after seeing similar lottery shows in other states.

MAUGANSVILLE -- Something happened to Harry Leroy Hamby more than 23 years ago that might have had a negative effect on some people, but not him. The Hagerstown native, who died Thursday at the age of 90, won the Maryland Lotto in April 1985, sharing six winning numbers with four other people for a total of $11.1 million before taxes. His daughter, Peggy Hawbaker, said the money never changed her father's lifestyle - right up to the day he died. "Dad stayed in the same house," Hawbaker said.

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SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife's National Conservation Training Center will offer the public a chance to hunt deer on its grounds along Shepherd Grade Road this fall. Those allowed to hunt will be determined through a lottery system, according to a news release from the center. Lottery cards will be due to the center Sept. 7 and the lottery drawing will be held Sept. 10, according to the release. Deer hunting will be allowed Nov. 24, Dec. 1 and Dec. 8, the release said.

scottb@herald-mail.com Twelve local residents will share $150,000, before taxes, after playing a Big Game lottery ticket that included numbers from the birthdays of one of the employees' relatives. The group, which bought tickets at the Maugans Avenue Texaco, won the prize in the April 5 drawing. They turned in the winning ticket on Monday at Maryland lottery offices. The 12 work together at a Food Lion distribution center and a nearby General Electric warehouse in Greencastle, Pa. Each will receive about $8,500 before taxes.

shappell@herald-mail.com WASHINGTON COUNTY - If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. That's the belief of Washington County Sheriff's Department Investigator Greg Alton, who said Wednesday that several con artists are working the county by telephone and in person. Alton said that in recent weeks and months deputies have received an increased amount of reports from county residents of attempted telemarketing scams. Alton said lottery-based scams are among the most popular.

This coming Sunday at 4 p.m., the West Virginia Legislature will meet in special session to consider flood-relief measures for the southern part of the state - and for a look at the state's finances in general. Lawmakers must find a way to bridge the funding gap until video-lottery revenue arrives. Legislators approved the legalization of 9,000 video-lottery machines and upped the maximum bet at racetrack machines from $2 to $5, anticipating millions in news revenues. But passing the law authorizing those things didn't mean they would be implemented immediately, even though anticipated funds from those sources have already been plugged into the budget.

Four years before they won $5.7 million in the Maryland Lotto in 1995, Harold and Shurl Bussard of Hagerstown had hit rock bottom. A former plumber, Harold Bussard, now 62, was disabled with a heart problem and unable to work. The couple lived on government assistance and the minimum wage Shurl Bussard made working at her sister's pet supply business, Cosmic Pet. The couple had filed for bankruptcy, and Shurl Bussard needed a hernia operation they could not afford. With no insurance, she had been making advance payments to the doctor in order to have the surgery, she said.

Editor's note: Each week, The Herald-Mail invites readers to answer poll questions on its Web site, www.herald-mail.com . Readers also may submit comments about the poll question when voting. Each Sunday, a sampling of edited reader comments will run in The Herald-Mail. There were three poll questions last week. The first question was: On Friday, the Mega Millions jackpot was over $200 million and Powerball was over $300 million. When do you play the lottery? "Love this free country of ours where gambling is illegal almost everywhere because the government must protect fools from gambling all their money away, yet the same fools can spend every last dime on lottery tickets at the local Sheetz.

A 66-year-old woman from Sharpsburg is Washington County's latest lottery jackpot winner. The woman claimed a $625,000 Multi-Match jackpot Friday, according to a press release from the Maryland Lottery. She correctly matched all six numbers in the Feb. 11 drawing. “I found out I won late Monday night when my twin sons woke me up with the news,” the woman said in the release. “They came knocking on my door screaming that I had hit the jackpot.” The woman's sons checked her ticket online and saw that all her numbers matched.

Two Maryland Lottery tickets bought in the Tri-State area have resulted in big payouts for the purchasers, including a $1 million prize claimed Tuesday by a Middletown, Md. man. A $1 million winning ticket in Saturday night's Powerball drawing was bought at Fountaindale Service Center in Middletown. The ticket matched the numbers 05, 06, 16, 36 and 58, but missed the Powerball, which was 03. A ticket bought at Boonsboro Exxon for Monday night's Multi-Match drawing is worth $625,000 after matching all six numbers.

A Hagerstown man has come forward to claim his lottery winnings, but the winner of the $575,000 Multi-Match top-tier prize wants to remain anonymous, Maryland Lottery officials said Friday. The ticket holder had all six numbers in the Jan. 21 Multi-Match drawing. The disabled Army veteran bought his winning ticket at Roxy Liquors at 761 E. Wilson Blvd. in Hagerstown, lottery officials said in a news release. The winning numbers were 1, 2, 13, 22, 37 and 43. Before he discovered he won, the man joked about possibly being the winner of the Multi-Match jackpot that he knew had been sold by a Hagerstown retailer, according to the release.

A winning Multi-Match ticket worth $575,000 was sold at Roxy Liquors at 761 E. Wilson Blvd. in Hagerstown on Monday night, according to the Maryland Lottery. The wining numbers were 1, 2, 13, 22, 37 and 43, according to the Maryland Lottery. Roxy Liquors will receive a bonus of $1,000 and the winner, which has not yet been identified, has 182 days to claim the prize, the lottery said. The Multi-Match jackpot was last hit on Jan. 7 when a $700,000 jackpot was claimed by Berlin, Md., resident Ruth Carpenter.

For many people who bought Powerball tickets before Wednesday night's $587.5 million drawing, two bucks might seem like a small investment. For some, that's what it is, but others see playing the lottery as gambling that, in some cases, could fuel an addiction. “I buy a ticket once a week, but I know how to handle it,” said Serita Cooper of Hagerstown. “I'm not addicted to it. I don't have to have it every day.” For others, the urge to buy lottery tickets could be an addiction, just as playing table games or slots can be, said Richard Benchoff, program director of Wells House Inc. in Hagerstown, which provides treatment to men with addictions.

With Saturday night's Powerball jackpot expected to reach more than $325 million, local liquor store clerks said they anticipated an increase in lottery sales as customers take a chance at becoming part of America's top 1 percent. Marie Stover, a clerk at C&R Liquors on Dual Highway in Hagerstown, said Powerball sales were slow Friday morning, but she predicted they would pick up as the time of the drawing gets closer. “They start coming in whenever they realize it's really up there,” she said.

The Hagerstown Police Department is seeking the public's assistance in identifying a woman who recently tried to cash in a stolen lottery ticket. The scratch-off ticket was stolen in a recent burglary, police said. The woman tried to cash the ticket at the Liberty gas station on Frederick Street, police said. The woman is white with a thin build and straight blond hair, police said. She was wearing a hooded jacket with yellow sleeves and what appeared to be a black front and gray back, police said.

Randy Smith, Berkeley County's multimillion-dollar lottery winner turned philanthropist, listened Friday to how his donation of an apartment complex is turning into a sustainable community housing program for families in crisis. Smith, 65, a former Berkeley County sheriff and magistrate, won a $79 million Powerball lottery in August 2010. The total dropped to $44 million after taxes when he opted for a lump-sum payment. Since then, Smith has been giving away millions to charities, area fire, police and emergency service agencies, local causes and individuals.

A Franklin County, Pa., woman is celebrating a big win from a Pennsylvania Lottery scratch-off ticket. Tonya Schroyer, of Greencastle, Pa., won $60,000 on the Peng-Win instant ticket her husband bought for her in November. “My husband, Jeff, bought me the ticket, and I didn't like that game at first because my favorite is the Candy Cane Cash,” Tonya Schroyer said in a news release. She said she stuffed the ticket in her purse as they left to get breakfast at a local restaurant.