INDEPENDENCE WOMAN TRIES NEW TICKET,
WINS $10,000 LOTTERY PRIZE

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Erin Vorthmann Wins Top Prize Playing the "10K Payday" Scratch Game

DES MOINES, Iowa – An Independence woman took a chance on the lottery's "10K Payday" instant-scratch ticket and ended up winning a $10,000 prize!

Erin Vorthmann, 49, said she plays scratch games intermittently, and had never played the 10K Payday game before. Four tickets later, she had won the top prize.

"I was in tears! I couldn't believe it!" Vorthmann said.

Vorthmann called to tell her mom and her son right away, but didn't call her husband Jason.

"He has to work a long day. I don't know if I want to get him so flustered! I thought about just putting the big check on the front door so he sees it when he gets home," she said with a laugh.

Vorthmann, who works as a server and shift leader for Bill's Pizza and Smokehouse, claimed her prize Monday at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids. She purchased her winning ticket at Casey's, 816 First St. in Independence.

Vorthmann said she plans to use some of her winnings to pay bills as well as remodel her bathroom.

"I'm so thrilled," she said.

The 10K Payday scratch game is a $2 game. If "Your Numbers" match any of the "Winning Numbers," players win the prize shown for that play area. If they find a "Coin" symbol, they win double the prize shown. The overall odds of winning in the game are 1 in 3.93.

Nine prizes of $10,000 are still up for grabs in the 10K Payday game, as well as 53 prizes of $400 and more than 820 prizes of $80.

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.