Mason City Woman Surprised By $10,000 Lottery Win
Sheila Allison Claims Big Prize In '$100,000 Mega Crossword' Game
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CLIVE, Iowa - A Mason City woman got a much bigger surprise than she expected when what she thought was a $20 lottery prize turned out to be $10,000.
"I couldn't even text people, my hands were shaking so bad," Sheila Allison said on Friday as she claimed her prize at the lottery's Mason City regional office.
Allison, 51, won the 72nd prize of $10,000 in the Iowa Lottery's "$100,000 Mega Crossword" scratch game. She bought her winning ticket at Hy-Vee, 2400 Fourth St. SW in Mason City.
After scanning her ticket with the Iowa Lottery mobile app, Allison said her mind went blank.
"I don't know that I had a thought, to be honest with you." she said. "I looked at it, like, 'Wait, what? What?! No!' I had to take a couple looks. I had to scan it again just to make sure it was right, and it came back looking the same as it did the first time."
She hasn't mapped out a plan for her winnings just yet, but Allison said a few updates around the house - and maybe a little something extra - are in the cards.
"I've never won such an amount before, so we've got to have a little fun with it," she said.
The $100,000 Mega Crossword game is a $10 scratch game that features 46 top prizes of $100,000, 92 prizes of $10,000 and overall odds of 1 in 3.29. For more information about this game and the number of prizes still available, visit ialottery.com.
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