Cherokee County Woman Surprised By $50,000 Lottery Win
Jacee Sangwin Claims Top Prize In '$50,000 Holiday Crossword'
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CLIVE, Iowa — A Cherokee County woman won a scratch ticket at a family Christmas gathering and scratched off a $50,000 prize.
"My dad actually got the tickets for us," Jacee Sangwin of Aurelia told officials on Monday after claiming her prize at the lottery's Storm Lake regional office. "Every year we go to my parents' house and we play card games. Whoever wins the card game, you get a ticket, and then at the end of the night we all scratch our tickets."
Sangwin, 22, said she completed nine words on her ticket and started celebrating, thinking she'd won a $5,000 prize.
"At first I was running around," she recalled. "I went and got my dad. I was like, 'Oh, my gosh! You have to come and look at this!' And then we were looking at it, and my sister-in-law was like, 'Hey, wait a minute. This is $50,000, not just $5,000!' It was crazy."
Just to be sure, she scanned the ticket with her Iowa Lottery mobile app to confirm her win.
"I just stood there, staring at the phone," she said. "I was in complete disbelief. I could not believe that I had just won."
The winning ticket was purchased at Casey's, 100 Pearl St. in Aurelia. Sangwin, who married in September and works at a nearby hospital, said she has several plans for her winnings.
"I'll probably pay off the car we just bought and then maybe go on a honeymoon or something that we haven't got to go on because of Covid and all the crazy hours at the hospital," she said.
The $50,000 Holiday Crossword was a $5 scratch game with a holiday theme. It began sales in October and ended Jan. 5 after the holiday season.
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