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Linda Gegenheimer Wins Top Prize Playing the "Crossword"
Scratch Game
DES MOINES, Iowa – An Oxford woman said it took her a minute
to catch her breath after she discovered she'd won $30,000
playing the "Crossword" instant-scratch game.
Linda Gegenheimer, 62, said she never dreamed she'd be the
winner of the top prize.
"First I was just trying to breathe. And then I just got
really excited thinking of the things we could do," Gegenheimer
said.
Gegeheimer said she sent her husband, Patrick to pick up the
tickets for her. As she was scratching them, she thought she'd
uncovered nine words. When she recounted, though, she discovered
she'd won a much bigger prize than she'd thought.
"First I thought I had nine. We were really excited about
that. And we kept counting and counting and then I called my
daughter and made her count and we were just really excited,"
she said.
Gegenheimer and her husband are foster parents to four
children. She said all the children were very excited for them.
Patrick took the ticket to be validated at a convenience
store where they knew the clerks. She said the clerk who ran the
ticket started crying when she ran the ticket through the
machine.
Gegenheimer said she plans to continue playing Crossword,
which is her favorite game.
"I may never win another big prize, but I never expected to
win one anyway, so it's just fun," she said.
Gegeheimer and Patrick plan to use the winnings to finish
remodeling a log cabin they just purchased to use as a family
getaway.
"They know we're going to get it done quicker now. We want to
share it with the family. We couldn't have finished this year
without this," she said.
Gegenheimer claimed her prize Monday at the Iowa Lottery's
regional office in Cedar Rapids. The winning ticket was
purchased at Kum & Go, 610 N. Kansas Ave. in North Liberty.
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.
Twenty prizes of $30,000 are still up for grabs in Crossword
as well as 27 prizes of $3,000, more than 395 prizes of $300 and
more than 1,880 prizes of $100.
Since the lottery's start in 1985, its players have won more
than $2.5 billion in prizes while the lottery has raised more
than $1.2 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. |
