Council Bluffs Woman Wins $30,000 Lottery Prize
Bernadette Morris Wins Top Prize in 'Bonus Crossword' Game
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CLIVE, Iowa — A Council Bluffs woman said her mind went blank after she scratched off a $30,000 lottery prize.
"I think my head was blank, I think I just sat there numb," Bernadette Morris said on Monday as she claimed her "Bonus Crossword" top prize at lottery headquarters in Clive. "Then I gradually thought, 'I really did (win).' It was wonderful."
Morris, 79, purchased her winning ticket at Hy-Vee, 2323 W. Broadway in Council Bluffs. When she played the ticket that night, she realized she was scratching off more words than usual.
"I thought, 'Well, it seems like I've got a lot of words,'" she recalled. "I counted up to five and I kept getting another word and I thought, 'Oh, this can't be right. There's no way this can be right!'"
Once she completed her 10th word to reach the game's top prize level, she checked and re-checked her ticket.
"I counted the words and went over the letters probably five times," she said. "And I still called my daughter because I wasn't so sure I could be so lucky."
Morris's daughter, Janet, confirmed her win, and then just to be sure, they took the ticket to a nearby gas station to check on the store's lottery terminal.
"We decided I was a winner," Morris said with a laugh.
Bonus Crossword is a $3 scratch game that features overall odds of 1 in 3.52 and 144 top prizes of $30,000. For more information about this game, and the number of prizes still available, visit www.ialottery.com.
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