WATERLOO WOMAN WINS $30,000 LOTTERY PRIZE

Tracy Loonan Wins Top Prize Playing the "Jingle Bell Crossword" Scratch Game

DES MOINES, Iowa – A Waterloo woman won the top prize of $30,000 playing the "Jingle Bell Crossword" instant-scratch game.

Tracy Loonan claimed her prize Friday at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids. She bought her winning ticket at Kimball Avenue Drug, 2104 Kimball Ave. in Waterloo.

Jingle Bell 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-one prizes of $30,000 are still up for grabs in Jingle Bell Crossword as well as 30 prizes of $3,000, more than 400 prizes of $300 as well as more than 1,900 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.