08/17/09 Hiawatha Man Walks Right Into $30,000 Lottery Prize




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HIAWATHA MAN WALKS RIGHT INTO $30,000 LOTTERY PRIZE

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Robert Persons Wins Top Prize Playing the "Crossword" Scratch Game

DES MOINES, Iowa – A Hiawatha man bought two "Crossword" instant-scratch tickets on his morning walk, and discovered he had won the top prize of $30,000!

Robert Persons likes to buy Crossword scratch tickets when going on his morning walk for entertainment. After playing the game off and on for several years, he has won the top prize.

"I worked hard for it. I love getting it!" Persons said when he claimed his prize Thursday at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids.

Persons said he was in disbelief when he discovered the win.

"I looked over the ticket three, four, five times. I counted the words and I just couldn't believe it!" he said.

Persons was in his driveway when he scratched the ticket. After counting the words several times, he rushed in the house to show his wife. He still wasn't sure of his win, so he had her count them, too.

"She said seven words! So I had to point out where they were at and then we agreed it was ten," he said.

Persons bought his winning ticket Big 10 Mart, 1225 Boyson Rd. in Hiawatha.

Persons, 72, is a retired heavy equipment driver for an excavating company in Hiawatha. He plans to save his winnings for a vacation in summer 2010.

He said he plans to keep playing Crossword.

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 about 1 in 4.

Twenty-two prizes of $30,000 are still up for grabs in Crossword as well as 31 prizes of $3,000, more than 465 prizes of $300 and 2,280 prizes of $100.

Since the Iowa Lottery's start in 1985, its players have won more than $2.4 billion in prizes while the lottery has raised more than $1.2 billion for state programs.