Marion Man Shocked to Win $30,000 in Lottery

 A Marion man said he didn’t initially believe that his Iowa Lottery “Crossword” instant-scratch ticket was a $30,000 top-prize winner.

Eddie Charles, 45, said he only buys scratch tickets a few times a year and he wanted to double-check he indeed had a winning ticket before he started to celebrate.

“I counted four or five times and then I recounted four or more times again,” he said. “Then I took it to a gas station (and) had it self-checked. Then I gave it to the clerk and had them check it.”

Charles, who works for an engineering firm in Iowa City, claimed the 80th of 97 top prizes of $30,000 available in the Crossword scratch game. He claimed his prize Thursday at the lottery’s regional office in Cedar Rapids. He purchased his winning ticket Wednesday at Guppy’s on the Go, 680 Lindale Drive in Marion.

Charles said he plans to use his lottery winnings to pay off his truck loan.

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.

Seventeen top prizes of $30,000 are still up for grabs in Crossword, as well as 22 prizes of $3,000, 232 prizes of $300 and hundreds of prizes of $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.