Dubuque Man Wins $100,000 Lottery Prize
James Holston Claims Top Prize In 'White Ice' Scratch Game
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CLIVE, Iowa - A Dubuque man rode a hot streak to a $100,000 lottery win.
James Holston, 61, hit the top prize in the Iowa Lottery's "White Ice" scratch game on his third try, claiming the second of 10 top prizes in the game.
Holston first spotted the $10 scratch game, which began sales last month, during a stop at a local gas station on his way into work. He bought a pair of tickets and scratched them on his lunch break, winning prizes on each. So he decided to pick up a third ticket in the game after work, stopping at Kwik Stop, 2335 University Ave. in Dubuque.
He was delighted to uncover a matching symbol on the third ticket, but assumed the prize would be a minor one.
"I thought, 'Oh, well, it's going to be another one of those small winners. We never get any big winners here in Dubuque,'" he recalled with a laugh. "When I saw it, I thought, 'You've got to be kidding me!'"
Holston pulled out his phone to scan the ticket with the Iowa Lottery mobile app, which confirmed the big win.
"Man, to my surprise, that thing said $100,000," said Holston, who works in the security department at the University of Dubuque. "I was like, 'Oh, my goodness!'"
He took the tickets home to show his wife, Marilyn. He first showed her one of the smaller prize-winning tickets from earlier in the day.
"She scanned it and said, 'Hey! $20! You doubled your money,'" Holston said. "I said, 'I have another one over there. Scan that.' She scanned it and when it came up on her phone, her mouth dropped wide open. I thought, 'Yep! That's what I thought!'"
Holston claimed his prize Thursday at the lottery's Cedar Rapids regional office. He said he and his wife plan to put the winnings toward home improvements, including new vinyl siding and a new air condition system.
"We're definitely going to put it to good use," he said.
White Ice is a $10 scratch game that features 10 top prizes of $100,000 and overall odds of 1 in 2.86. For more information about this game, and the number of prizes still available, visit ialottery.com.
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