DES MOINES WOMAN RECEIVES E-MAIL
PREDICTING GOOD FORTUNE, WINS $10,000 LOTTERY PRIZE

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Carol Weyer Wins Top Prize Playing the "Roll 'Em" Scratch Game

DES MOINES, Iowa – A Des Moines woman attributes her lucky $10,000 lottery prize to a good fortune e-mail she received from a friend.

Carol Weyer, 63, was in utter disbelief of her top-prize win in the lottery's "Roll 'Em" instant-scratch game.

"I saw the ten and thought I won $10, but I didn't – I won $10,000!" Weyer exclaimed as she claimed her prize Thursday at the Iowa Lottery's headquarters in Des Moines.

Weyer was on a break at work when she scratched the ticket, so her co-workers got to share her joy. She works as an assistant to the owners of Midwest Basement Systems in Des Moines.

"I kept thinking 'No, that can't be!' I really still didn't think I won $10,000. So then we started adding it, and of course I hadn't said anything to anybody in the office yet. Pretty soon they were all kind of gathering and listening. They were like, 'Carol, why are you not screaming? Are you in shock?'" she said.

Weyer said when it finally sank in, her heart was racing. That morning, a friend sent Weyer an e-mail that discussed good fortune.

"It just talked about good things happening and then I won $10,000!" she said.

Weyer said the first thing she did after her win was sign the back of the ticket to ensure that it was hers. Then she called the local Casey's store where she bought the ticket.

"I always stop there on my way to work. They were more excited than I was! They were screaming and carrying on," she said.

Weyer bought her ticket at Casey's, 4560 E. 14th St. in Des Moines, the same convenience store that sold a $1 million winning Powerball ticket that was claimed by a group of Des Moines tire workers. She said she plans to take her big ceremonial check to the store to show them.

Weyer called her children and her sister to tell them the news as well. She called her daughter Rita first.

"I called her and she was driving. I told her I was the most important person for her to be talking to and told her to put both hands on the steering wheel or pull over. She said, 'How very, very cool! Wait until you get my birthday list!'" Weyer said with a laugh.

Weyer said she just bought some new furniture, so she plans to use part of her winnings for that and she'll keep the rest in savings.

Weyer had never played the Roll 'Em game before her big win.

"I just looked to see what they had and I saw it and thought, 'That looks like fun,' and I'll be buying it again!" she said.

The Roll 'Em scratch game is a $2 game. If any one roll in the play area on each ticket totals seven, players win the prize shown for that roll. If any one roll totals 11, they win double the prize shown for that roll. The overall odds of winning in the game are 1 in 3.86.

Nineteen top prizes of $10,000 are still up for grabs in the Roll 'Em game, as well as more than 1,000 prizes of $100.

Since the Iowa Lottery's inception 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.