Listen: Hills Woman Gets Good Luck Vibes from Grandma Before Winning $30,000 Lotto

 A Johnson County woman said she scratched off her “Crossword” instant-scratch ticket with her sister and won a $30,000 lottery prize.

“The first word on it was ‘Iris,’ which is my grandma’s name. And I was like, ‘Oh come on grandma. Bring me some luck,’” Lynn Mellecker said. “And we were crossing it off and I had three words already. I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh. I still have seven letters left to cross off. This is going to be a good one.’”

Mellecker, who is from Hills, claimed the 59th of 97 top prizes of $30,000 available in the Iowa Lottery’s Crossword scratch game.

“So we’re getting excited. My sister’s going, ‘Oh, my gosh. This is going to be it!’ We crossed off a few more and I’m like, ‘I just need an “A.”’ And my bonus letter was an ‘A,’” Mellecker said. “And so we’re sitting in the van just screaming, going, ‘Oh, my gosh!’”

Mellecker, a respiratory therapist at the University of Iowa Hospital, said she and her husband, Michael, know exactly how they plan to use their winnings.

“We’re going to pay some bills. You know, we’re being practical. We’ll pay some bills,” she said.

Mellecker, 52, claimed her prize Monday at the lottery’s regional office in Cedar Rapids. She purchased her winning ticket at Casey’s, 310 W. Main St. in Hills.

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.

            Thirty-seven top prizes of $30,000 are still up for grabs in Crossword, as well as 59 prizes of $3,000 and thousands more prizes of $300 and $100.

Since the lottery’s start in 1985, its players have won more than $3.1 billion in prizes while the lottery has raised more than $1.4 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.