CEDAR RAPIDS WOMAN ON $30,000 WIN:
"AT THE RIGHT PLACE, AT THE RIGHT TIME"

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Rose Balk Wins Top Prize Playing the "Crossword" Scratch Game

DES MOINES, Iowa – A Cedar Rapids woman said she doesn't necessarily consider herself lucky, but she does consider herself a woman who was "at the right place, at the right time."

Rose Balk said she likes to play the lottery's "Crossword" scratch game to keep herself busy, but never thought she'd win the top prize.

"I was like, 'Oh man, if I had one more letter, I'd win $30,000!' Well I had missed an 'L,' and I looked at him and said, 'I think I won $30,000!'" Balk said.

Balk claimed her prize Monday at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids. She bought her winning ticket at Kwik Shop, 301 E. Blairs Ferry Rd. in Hiawatha.

Balk said she knows exactly what she wants to do with her winnings.

"Here comes new carpet! And then I'm just going to play with the rest; big screen TV for my husband," she said.

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.

Eleven prizes of $30,000 are still up for grabs in Crossword as well as 17 prizes of $3,000, more than 255 prizes of $300 as well as more than 1,210 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 nearly $1.2 billion for state programs.