Des Moines Man Claims Top Prize Of $1,000 A Day For Life In 'Lucky For Life®'
Shelby Willis Is Iowa's First Top-Prize Winner In The Game
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CLIVE, Iowa — A Des Moines man is planning a big move to be closer to family after winning Iowa's first top prize of $1,000 a day for life in the multi-state Lucky for Life® game.
"This is important. This is going to change things for myself, my children and my grandchildren," Shelby Willis said as he claimed his prize Tuesday at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. "So I've got to do it right."
Willis, 64, said he was born in Iowa, but spent most of his adult life on the East Coast, where both of his daughters and his brother live today. Willis said he returned to live in Des Moines 12 years ago to help his father, who was in poor health at the time. Now he's looking east again, to New Jersey.
"I've got some things I want to clean up here first so I'll have a totally clean slate when I get back to Jersey," he said. "And then I'll pick up life from there!"
Willis' ticket matched all six winning numbers in Friday's Lucky for Life drawing to win the game's top prize of $1,000 a day for life. The winning numbers that night were: 2-7-19-42-47 and Lucky Ball 4.
Willis bought his winning easy-pick ticket at QuikTrip, 1501 E. Grand Ave. in Des Moines. QuikTrip will receive a $5,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the winning ticket.
Willis chose to receive his prize in its lump-sum amount of $5.75 million. He said that the cash option was a better fit at his stage in life.
Willis, who has worked for years in the security business, said he quit his job Saturday after realizing he'd won big.
"It's instant retirement, if you want to call it that," he said.
Willis said he first realized he hit it big when he called the Iowa Lottery's winning numbers hotline Saturday morning to check the results of his ticket. He then went back to the QuikTrip to have his ticket scanned on the lottery terminal there.
"The clerk, she was kind enough to scan the ticket for me," he said. "And then it looked like her face fell off! She was like, 'Oh my gosh, you won! You won the lottery!'"
Willis said he went straight home and put his winning ticket in his mother's Bible for safekeeping through the long holiday weekend.
Willis said he is following his family's advice to be careful with his winnings and already has an appointment with a financial planner.
"I can relax a little bit now. I don't have to be so concerned with finances," he said. "And I'll be able to afford a few little trinkets here and there for myself and my grandkids, maybe go on a cruise or something. I've never done that before, I'd like to do that."
Lucky for Life is a $2 game with drawings each night. It is sold by 23 U.S. lotteries, including Iowa.
The game's top two prize levels are described as "lasting as long as you do," meaning that they are truly for life. The minimum guaranteed payout for those two prize levels is 20 years, and there is a lump-sum option for players who would prefer that rather than lifetime annuity payments.
Willis' prize is Iowa's 22nd overall big winner in Lucky for Life since the game's January 2016 debut in the state. The other big winners were all at the game's second prize level of $25,000 a year for life.
Willis does have one definite purchase on his list once he has moved back to New Jersey.
"Get some Yankee tickets when I get back, I'm definitely going to do that," he said. "I've been a fan since the 1970s!"
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