Eastern Iowa Woman Wins Big Lottery Prize With ‘Elf’ Scratch Game

We have another big Iowa Lottery winner in the Quad Cities area! She won a top prize in a game that couldn't be more full of Christmas cheer for all to hear.

Congrats to Stephanie Carder of Clinton on winning a top prize in the Iowa Lottery's  ELF scratch frame. Her winnings actually came down to making a difficult decision that ultimately led to this big prize.

"We were deciding on pizza or tacos," said Stephanie Carder of Clinton, told Iowa Lottery officials. "Good thing we went for pizza!" Good thing they did because Stephanie won $50,000!

Carder purchased her winning ELF scratch ticket while picking up a pizza for herself and her partner at Casey's, 1336 Camanche Ave. in Clinton. Carder brought home dinner and got to work on her ticket, according to the release.

"I started scratching the last line and I was like, 'Oh, I actually won!' And I had not scratched the prize just yet," Carder recalled. "And my partner was actually helping me scratch the prize and it was like, 'It's $50,000!'"

Carder claimed her prize Tuesday at the lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids. She said she plans to pay off a loan she took out to renovate the exterior of her home.

"It's pretty amazing to be able to think about some debt that I have that I'm going to be able to pay off and be able to do a few things that we've been wanting to do," she said to Iowa Lottery officials.

Get our free mobile app

The ELF scratch game from the Iowa Lottery is licensed by Scientific Games, LLC and Warner Bros. Discovery Global Experiences. Based on the classic 2003 holiday movie, it is a $5 scratch game that offers prizes from $5 to $50,000 and overall odds of 1 in 3.74.

From now until 9:59 a.m. on Jan. 8, 2025, players can enter nonwinning ELF scratch tickets into a holiday promotion for a chance to win $1.1 million in cash prizes. For more information about this promotion, visit ialottery.com.