With Wife's Help, Northeast Iowa Man Wins $10,000 Lottery Prize
Mark Fitzgerald Claims Big Prize in 'Beat the Heat' Scratch Game
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CLIVE, Iowa — A northeast Iowa man teamed up with his wife for a $10,000 lottery win.
Mark Fitzgerald, 56, of Janesville, bought the lucky “Beat the Heat” scratch ticket, but it was his wife Tasha who scratched it and uncovered the big prize, $1,000 at a time.
“She goes, 'Well, I won $1,000,'” Fitzgerald recalled Friday as he claimed his prize at the lottery's Mason City regional office. “I said, 'Keep scratching!' And then another one and another one. So, $10,000 later, here we are!”
Fitzgerald bought the winning ticket at Casey's, 1430 Main St. in Osage. Even after uncovering the big prize, he said, Tasha thought he was pulling a fast one.
“She goes, 'This is a joke, right?' I said, 'Nope! This is no joke!'” Fitzgerald said with a laugh. “She says, 'Is this one of those prank tickets?' I said, 'No! It's 100 percent real!'”
He said it wasn't until he scanned the ticket with the Iowa Lottery mobile app to confirm the win that she really began to believe him.
Fitzgerald, a developer, said he plans to use his winnings for home improvement projects.
Beat the Heat is a $10 scratch game that features six top prizes of $100,000, 26 prizes of $10,000 and overall odds of 1 in 3.16. For more information about this game, and the number of prizes still available, visit www.ialottery.com.
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