Two Eastern Iowa Men Win $130,000 From Scratch Off Tickets

It's exciting when anyone wins big with the Iowa Lottery. Am I sad it's never me? Duh. But it's cool to see fellow Iowans win life-changing money by simply buying one ticket. Two men out of Eastern Iowa have some extra change in their pockets after finding out they won big from two different scratch-off tickets.

One of these men won quite a bit more than the other, but winning anything that has five digits or more on the check is a really significant prize. The crazy part is that these two Iowans are only a county apart which should tell you where you should be buying your scratch-off tickets at.

Congrats to James of Dubuque and Chad of Maquoketa on winning big with the Iowa Lottery.

Maquoketa Man Wins $30,000 From Scratch-Off Ticket

Chad Hayes of Maquoketa won the 19th prize of $30,000 in the Iowa Lottery's "Premiere" scratch game, according to Iowa Lottery officials. He purchased his winning ticket at Casey's, 502 Market St. in Delmar, and claimed his prize Monday at the lottery's Cedar Rapids regional office.

It costs $30 to play the Premiere scratch game. It features 17 top prizes of $300,000, 84 prizes of $30,000, and overall odds of 1 in 2.39.

Dubuque Man Scores $100,000 With A New Scratch Game

The next congratulations go to Dubuque-native James Holston, 61, who hit the top prize in the Iowa Lottery's "White Ice" scratch game on his third try, claiming the second of 10 top prizes in the game.

Iowa Lottery officials say James first spotted the $10 scratch game, which began sales last month, during a stop at a local gas station on his way to work. He bought a pair of tickets and scratched them on his lunch break, winning prizes on each.

James then decided to pick up a third ticket in the game after work, stopping at Kwik Stop, 2335 University Ave. in Dubuque which was the $100,000 winner. White Ice costs $10 to play and features 10 top prizes of $100,000. The overall odds of winning White Ice's jackpot prizes is 1 in 2.86.

Holston claimed his prize Thursday at the lottery's Cedar Rapids regional office. He said he and his wife plan to put the winnings toward home improvements, including new vinyl siding and a new air condition system.