Atlantic Man Claims Prize Of $25,000 A Year For Life
Delbert Littleton Wins Iowa's Ninth Big Prize In Lucky for Life'
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CLIVE, Iowa - A southwest Iowa man said that he and his wife danced in their kitchen at 4:30 a.m. after realizing he'd won a lottery prize of $25,000 a year for life.
"She started shaking and then she started dancing around the kitchen," Delbert Littleton of Atlantic said as he claimed his prize Wednesday at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. "We gave each other a big hug and then the first thing she said was, 'We've got to get to the safety deposit box and get this locked up.' Dancing in the kitchen at 4:30 in the morning. And lots of hugs."
Littleton's ticket matched the first five numbers but missed the Lucky Ball in the Lucky for Life drawing on June 15 to win the game's second prize of $25,000 a year for life. He bought his winning ticket at Casey's, 701 Poplar St. in Atlantic.
Littleton, 62, who works at an assisted-living facility, said he realized early the morning after the drawing that he'd won a big prize. And even though his wife Jodi was still asleep, he knew he had to share the news.
"I told her, 'You really need to get up. There's nothing serious, but you really need to get up and look at this,'" he recalled.
The winning numbers in that night's Lucky for Life drawing were: 25-28-32-47-48 and Lucky Ball 14. Casey's will receive a $500 bonus from the lottery for selling the winning ticket at one of its stores.
Littleton is Iowa's ninth big winner in the game since it debuted in January 2016 in our state. He said that he and Jodi already know how they'll use the winnings: They plan to buy a new house, both buy new cars, and put the rest away for retirement.
"We're both pretty down to earth and we're pretty grounded on things and this is what we're going to do," he said.
Littleton, who works in environmental services and therefore takes precautions against COVID-19 daily, said that winning a big prize during a worldwide pandemic gives him hope.
"It kind of lightens the load a little bit. It gives me a little more hope that eventually we'll get through this," he said.
Lucky for Life is a $2 game with drawings twice a week, at 9:38 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays. Players in the game choose five numbers from a pool of 48 for the white balls and 1 out of 18 numbers for the Lucky Ball.
Players can win the game's top prize of $1,000 a day for life by matching all six numbers selected in one of its drawings. The game's second prize – for matching the first five numbers but missing the Lucky Ball – is $25,000 a year for life. Other prize levels in the game range from $4 up to $5,000.
There is a lump-sum option at the game's top two prize levels for players who prefer that rather than lifetime annuity payments. Littleton chose to receive his prize in its lump-sum option of $390,000.
"We talked about what we should do," he said. "And I said, 'Well I don't know if I'm going to be here in another month. Nobody does. I have no clue what's going to happen. So, let's take the lump sum. Let's go ahead and do what we're going to do with it and enjoy it right away.'"
| Lucky for Life Prize: | $25,000 a year for life |
| Chosen to receive as: | $390,000 lump-sum option |
| Federal withholding: | $93,600 |
| State withholding: | $19,500 |
| Net amount: | $276,900 |
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