WATERLOO WOMAN CHANGES NUMBERS AT LAST MINUTE,
WINS $100,000 LOTTERY PRIZE

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Jeanette Steiner Wins Top Prize Playing "Iowa's $100,000 Cash Game"

DES MOINES, Iowa – A Waterloo woman said she had a feeling she should choose random numbers rather than playing her usual ones with Iowa's $100,000 Cash Game and she ended up winning the top prize.

Jeanette Steiner, 74, said she usually plays a combination of birthdays and anniversaries, but for the September 11 drawing, she had a feeling she should go a different route.

"I chose a seven and a nine, then added nine, nine for 18, and then I just tossed in a couple of my lucky numbers," Steiner said. With her random numbers, she took home a $100,000 prize.

Choosing random numbers has proved to be lucky for Steiner in the past; she won the very same top prize in January, 1993.

Steiner realized she had won when she checked the winning numbers on the Iowa Lottery Web site.

"I guess I was so shocked that I had changed my numbers, that one set, and that was the one that was called. I thought, 'Did somebody hear me?'" she said with a laugh.

Steiner was home with her husband Ed, her daughter and son-in-law when she found out she had won. She said she walked in the room and told them to give the "Wheel of Fortune" winner's scream, but they had no idea what she was talking about.

"All these straight faces. And I said, 'We won!' 'What, $100?' they said, and I said, 'No, it's more than that!' It was just really interesting to watch their faces when I told them," Steiner said.

Steiner claimed her prize Monday at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids, just days before her 53rd wedding anniversary. She is a retired magazine publisher who has also participated in the recovery program for retired racing Greyhound dogs.

Steiner said she and her husband plan to use the winnings to make some home renovation and help cover medical costs. She said she plans to keep playing and has already purchased her next two tickets. Steiner bought her winning ticket at Hometown Foods, 1010 Mitchell in Waterloo.

Steiner won the top prize in the September 11 drawing of Iowa's $100,000 Cash Game. The winning numbers that night were: 7-9-18-22-23. Steiner's ticket matched all five numbers drawn to win the top prize.

Players in Iowa's $100,000 Cash Game choose five numbers from a pool of 35. Tickets in the game cost $1 and drawings are held at 6:28 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The odds of winning the game's top prize are 1 in 324,632.

Winning numbers may be checked at the lottery Web site at www.ialottery.com or through the winning numbers' hot line at (515) 323-4633. Winning numbers may also be checked with lottery retail outlets or by calling the lottery at (515) 725-7900 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday.

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