It never hurts winning some decent cash once in a while.

Two fellas out of Eastern Iowa are now five figures richer after scoring a good chunk of change from the Iowa Lottery. One of them won big with a scratch-off ticket while the other scored a good lump sum by playing Mega Millions®.

Cedar Rapids Man Stunned To Win $10,000

"I'm still kind of overwhelmed," James Mart said on Monday as he claimed his prize at the lottery's Cedar Rapids regional office. "The most I won before was $1,000 and I thought that was great. And then when this one said, $10,000, it was like, 'Wow!,'" according to the Iowa Lottery.

Iowa Lottery
Iowa Lottery
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Mart, 67, won the first prize of $10,000 in the Iowa Lottery's "Beat the Heat" scratch game, which began sales in June. He bought his winning ticket at Hy-Vee Drugstore, 505 Boyson Road NE in Cedar Rapids, and scanned the ticket on the store's self-checker.

"I took off my glasses to look at it: 'That can't be right!'" Mart recalled with a laugh. So I cleared the screen and checked it again and it still said $10,000."

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Thinking the scanner was malfunctioning, he took his ticket to another retailer, where another scan revealed the same prize amount. Mart said he planned to save most of his winnings and set some aside for a vacation this fall.

Waverly Man Dances After Winning $10,000

Allen Stern of Waverly couldn't contain his excitement when he realized he had won a $10,000 Mega Millions® prize. He celebrated right there in a grocery store parking lot, telling lottery officials, "I got out of my truck, did a little dance, and went into work," said Stern.

Iowa Lottery
Iowa Lottery
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Stern, who manages a bar and restaurant, purchased his winning ticket at Hy-Vee, 410 N. Ankeny Blvd., in Ankeny. He claimed his prize Monday at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive.

Stern won his $10,000 prize in Friday's Mega Millions drawing. His ticket matched four of the first five numbers in that night's drawing to win $10,000.

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