DES MOINES, Iowa - A Davenport man was feeling pretty good after finding out his girlfriend is pregnant with a baby boy, so he decided to pick up a few "Crossword" scratch tickets and ended up winning a top prize of $30,000.
Brandon Clark, 28, said he stopped into Tobacco Outlet Plus at 4619 Brady St. in Davenport to pick up a few things for breakfast and bought some scratch tickets as well.
"I stopped for a pop and didn't want to use my debit card for a dollar, so I got a Crossword too," Clark said. "All of a sudden there was just a bunch of words that kept coming."
Clark woke up his girlfriend, Jodi Moore, to tell her the big news.
"She told me to go back to the gas station to have it checked and calm down," Clark said.
Clark, who works construction in Wyoming, Iowa, said he's planning to use some of his winnings to plan for the birth of his son.
"We're just going to save it and see what we need," he said as he claimed his prize Thursday at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids.
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 a prize in the game are 1 in 3.82.
Three top prizes of $30,000 are still up for grabs in Crossword, as well as 11 prizes of $3,000, more than 130 prizes of $300 and more than 590 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 $2.9 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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