DES MOINES WOMAN HAS STRING OF GOOD LUCK

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Connie Griebel Wins Top Prize of $25,000 Playing "Snowman Bingo" Scratch Game

DES MOINES, Iowa – A Des Moines woman has had a lucky couple of days, including winning a $25,000 prize playing the "Snowman Bingo" instant-scratch game!

Connie Griebel, 51, won the prize on her boyfriend's birthday. It was also one day before she was scheduled to start a new job.

"To top it off it was his birthday, so I can go out and get him a nice birthday present now," Griebel said.

Griebel claimed her prize Tuesday at the Iowa Lottery's headquarters in Des Moines. After claiming her prize, Griebel was headed to Mitchell Village Care Center to begin her first day as a Certified Nursing Assistant.

Griebel was at home with her boyfriend Todd Bishop when she scratched the ticket.

"We were sitting there scratching them and I went, 'Oh, oh, oh!' And he was like, 'What, what, how much did you win?'" she said.

After the initial shock, Griebel and Bishop took the ticket back to the retailer to have it validated. She bought her winning ticket at Hy-Vee, 1107 S.E. Army Post Rd. in Des Moines.

"We went back to Hy-Vee and they were like, 'Oh! Congratulations!'" she said.

The night before claiming her prize, Griebel said she didn't get to sleep until 4 a.m.

"I'll be tired today, but it's worth it," she said.

Griebel said she hadn't told any family members yet, but planned to.

"We will; we're just still letting it sink in," she said.

Griebel plans to use some of her winnings to pay bills and buy Bishop a birthday present.

Snowman Bingo is a $2 scratch game. Players try to match any complete horizontal, vertical or diagonal line, four corners, or an "X" pattern on one of the four Bingo cards to win the corresponding prize in the prize arrow that points to their card. The overall odds of winning a prize in the game are 1 in 3.57.

Two top prizes of $25,000 are left in the Snowman Bingo game. There are still eight prizes of $2,500, as well as 12 prizes of $500 and more than 150 prizes of $150 and $250.

Since the Iowa Lottery's inception in 1985, more than $2.4 billion has been awarded in prizes and nearly $1.2 billion has been raised for state programs.