Des Moines Woman Wins $250,000 Lottery Prize
Jennyfer Akers Claims Top Prize In '$250,000 Extreme Cash' Game
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CLIVE, Iowa — A Des Moines woman who won a $250,000 lottery prize said the feeling was hard to describe.
"It's not something that you think you'll encounter," Jennyfer Akers told officials on Wednesday as she claimed her prize at lottery headquarters in Clive. "You kind of always dream about it, and it's never a reality until it becomes a reality. That reality for me was yesterday afternoon, and it's pretty mind-boggling."
Akers, 31, won the 16th and final top prize in the Iowa Lottery's "$250,000 Extreme Cash" scratch game. She bought a pair of scratch tickets from the self-service kiosk at Price Chopper, 3425 Ingersoll Ave. in Des Moines.
On the first ticket, she won $10. On the second, she won much more.
"It's really surreal," she said. "I had to pinch myself a couple different times. I had to be like, 'Is this real life?'"
Akers, an assistant manager at a convenience store, said she called both her best friend and her mother right away, but couldn't get ahold of either.
"I'm just in my car and there are people around me and I look like I'm probably either really mad at someone or yelling at someone," she said with a laugh. "I'm just celebrating to myself because there's no one else to answer my phone calls."
Akers has a variety of plans for some of her winnings, including buying a new car, visiting her best friend in Florida, vacationing with her boyfriend and sharing with family members.
"I have two nephews on the way, six months apart, so you bet that they are going to be spoiled rotten," she said.
Once the final top prize in a scratch game is claimed, distribution ends and the game is pulled from shelves. For more information about Iowa Lottery scratch gamesvisit www.ialottery.com.
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