URBANDALE MAN TAKES HOME SECOND
$30,000 LOTTERY PRIZE IN TWO MONTHS

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Robert Bembinster Jr. Wins Top Prize Playing the "Crossword" Scratch Game

DES MOINES, Iowa – An Urbandale man said he didn't consider himself lucky, until he won big playing the lottery's "Crossword" scratch game twice!

"I don't believe in superstition. I figure that winning $5, $10, $30, or $100 just comes in handy, but the way that my streak is going, I'm going to start changing that and believing that I am pretty lucky!" said Robert Bembinster Jr.

Bembinster, 39, said he really likes to play the Crossword game when he's on the road for work. Bembinster is the manager of Horizon Express, a trucking company owned by his girlfriend.

"It feels really good. It really does," he said.

Bembinster won the very same prize playing the same game in July. He said he plans to use some of the money to pay bills, as he did with his first win, but he wants to use part of the winnings for something fun this time as well.

"I couldn't believe that I hit two in a row within two months. Every day that I drive I think about what I would do with it if I ever won it," he said.

Bembinster claimed his prize Monday, Sept. 21, at the Iowa Lottery's headquarters in Des Moines. He bought his winning ticket at Hy-Vee, 3221 S. E. 14th St. in Des Moines.

Bembinster won just one day after his birthday, and said it was the best birthday he'd had.

"My next goal is to win the Powerball!" he 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 16 prizes of $3,000, 225 prizes of $300 as well as 1,065 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.