Story County Man Wins $100,000 Lottery Prize On Lunch Break
Taybor Johnson Wins Top Prize in 'Extreme Winnings' Scratch Game
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CLIVE, Iowa — A Story County man admits he was freaking out after scratching off a $100,000 lottery prize.
"I honestly think I'm still shaking," Taybor Johnson, 24, told officials on Tuesday as he claimed his prize at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. "I don't know how I made it all the way here."
Johnson, of Nevada, won the second of eight top prizes offered in the Iowa Lottery's "Xtreme Winnings" scratch game. A split-second decision as he was cashing in another winning ticket led him to the $100,000 prize.
Johnson said that he stopped at Southgate Expresse, 110 Airport Road in Ames, while on his lunch break. Rather than receiving $50 in cash for the ticket he was redeeming, he decided to use his winnings to buy five tickets in the $10 Xtreme Winnings game.
While he was playing those tickets, he initially thought he'd won $10,000 on one of them until he checked it again. He was overwhelmed when he realized it was $100,000 instead.
"It's like literally nothing I've ever felt before," he said. "It's like if you're 5, and it's Christmas morning, and your parents – you're pretty sure they bought you a Nintendo 64. That's what it felt like."
Johnson quickly returned to the Ames car dealership where he works and ran into a coworker.
"I had the ticket death-gripped in my hand," he said. "He's like, 'What are you racing around for? Did you just win $100,000?
"I go in and first thing, I tell my sales manager and everybody was just freaking out. It was just like the coolest thing ever."
He said he hasn't decided yet what he'll do with his winnings.
"I don't know. We'll see. I still just honestly don't believe it. It's insane," he said.
Xtreme Winnings is $10 scratch game that features eight 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 www.ialottery.com.
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