Joyce Schurke Wins Top Prize of $30,000 Playing "Crossword" Scratch Game

DES MOINES, Iowa - A Davenport woman was alone when she scratched her "Crossword" ticket and thought she only counted nine words, which would pay a $3,000 prize.

Joyce Schurke, 59, called her family to share her good news about winning a $3,000 prize, not knowing she'd actually won a top prize of $30,000.

"I called [my son] and I told him I had just won $3,000 on a lottery ticket," Schurke said. "So when he got home I asked him to check it for me."

Schurke's son told her she was in fact, wrong when she counted her words.

"He goes, 'Mom, it isn't right. You have ten words!'" Schurke said. "Then we went through every letter to make sure it was right!"

Schurke, who is a school bus driver, said when she discovered she'd won much more than she originally thought, she was so shocked that she started to shake.

"I called my mother and then my sisters and they all thought I was kidding at first," she said.

Schurke said Crossword is her favorite ticket, so she was extremely excited to win a top prize.

"I love Crosswords," Schurke said with a laugh as she claimed her prize Feb. 23 at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids.

Schurke said she plans to use some of her winnings to pay bills and is still thinking about how to use the rest. She purchased her winning ticket at Casey's, 222 Front St. in Buffalo.

Crossword is a $3 scratch game. Players win a prize by uncovering at least three complete words in the ticket's puzzle. If a player uncovers 10 words, he/she wins $30,000. The overall odds of winning in the game are 1 in 3.82.

Forty-three top prizes of $30,000 are still up for grabs in Crossword, as well as 68 prizes of $3,000, more than 900 prizes of $300 and more than 4,470 prizes of $100.

Players can enter eligible nonwinning scratch tickets online to earn "Points For Prizes®" points. The point value will be revealed to the player on the website upon successful submission of each eligible valid ticket. There is a limit of 30 ticket entries per day. To participate in Points For Prizes®, a player must register for a free account at ialottery.com. Registration is a one-time process. Merchandise that can be ordered by using points will be listed on the website in the Points For Prizes® online store. Players can choose from items in categories such as apparel, automotive, jewelry, sporting, tools and more.

Since the lottery's start in 1985, its players have won more than $2.8 billion in prizes while the lottery has raised more than $1.3 billion for the state programs that benefit all Iowans.

Today, lottery proceeds in Iowa have three main purposes: They provide support for veterans, help for a variety of significant projects through the state General Fund, and backing for the Vision Iowa program, which was implemented to create tourism destinations and community attractions in the state and build and repair schools.

 

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