FIRST TIME'S A CHARM FOR $50,000 PRIZE WINNER

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Matt Hill Wins Top Prize Playing the "Funky 5's" Scratch Game

DES MOINES, Iowa – An Eagle Grove man won a $50,000 prize his first time playing a lottery scratch game!

Matt Hill, 23, said his uncle gave him a "Funky 5's" scratch ticket along with some money as a birthday gift. Hill won $5 on the ticket and used the money to buy a few more; it was his first time ever buying a lottery ticket.

Hill purchased the last five Funky 5's tickets in the machine; he won $10 on the first ticket he scratched, $40 on another and the last ticket revealed the top prize of $50,000.

"When I scratched this one off I had to call my mom in the room because I didn't believe it. She looked at it and she didn't believe it and then I took it up and had them scan it through the machine and it was a winner!" Hill said.

After telling a few friends, Hill told his uncle the news.

"He said I owe him since he got me hooked on it," Hill said with a laugh.

Hill said he had trouble sleeping the night before claiming the ticket. While he tossed and turned that night, he thought about what he wants to use his winnings for.

"I thought about it and after talking to my parents I'm going to put it away and use it to buy a house," he said.

Hill is currently a full-time student and works as the Emergency Medical Services director for the city of Eagle Grove. He said since his win he's had a few people ask him to buy lottery tickets for them.

Hill claimed his winning ticket Monday at the Iowa Lottery's headquarters in Des Moines. He bought his winning ticket at Casey's, 200 S. Commercial Ave. in Eagle Grove.

Funky 5's is a $5 scratch game with three different money-themed play areas on each ticket. Prizes in the game range from $5 to $50,000.

Eight top prizes of $50,000 are still up for grabs, as well as more than 345 prizes of $500 and more than 1,350 prizes of $150.

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.