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Council Bluffs Woman Wins $50,000 Lottery Prize

Zondra Pruitt Claims Top Prize In '$50,000 Super Crossword' Game

Zondra Pruitt

CLIVE, Iowa — A Council Bluffs woman who won a $50,000 lottery prize said she initially thought her prize was much smaller.

"I'm at home scratching them off, and I'm thinking I won $5,000," Zondra Pruitt told lottery officials Monday as she claimed her prize at lottery headquarters in Clive. "My son's like, 'No, Mom! You've got 10 words. You won $50,000!'"

Pruitt, 57, won the 36th top prize in the Iowa Lottery's "$50,000 Super Crossword" scratch game. She purchased her winning ticket at Hy-Vee, 1745 Madison Ave. in Council Bluffs.

In the game, players try to complete words in the puzzle with a given set of letters. Pruitt thought she'd completed nine words until her son pointed out the 10th.

Pruitt said she pulled out her phone and scanned the ticket with the Iowa Lottery mobile app, which confirmed her big win.

"My mind just went blank," she said. "I think the most I've won on a scratch-off is $100. I just do them for fun, and it's like, 'Wow!' I didn't know what to think or what to say. I double-checked it like three, four times."

Pruitt said she resisted the temptation to wake up her husband, Michael, who was already asleep. But when he woke up early the next morning, she couldn't resist.

"He got up at like 4:30 in the morning to let the dogs out," Pruitt said. "I didn't let him go back to bed. I'm like, 'Babe! Look! Look! Look!'"

After claiming her prize, Pruitt said the first order of business after her win is meeting with some financial professionals.

"We're going to talk to our CPA and my investment specialist," she said. "I don't want to just blow it and be done with it. That's going to go into an investment."

The $50,000 Super Crossword is a $5 scratch game that features 105 top prizes of $50,000 and overall odds of 1 in 3.26. For more information about this game, and the number of prizes still available, visit www.ialottery.com.

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