Central Iowa Father of Four Wins $100,000 Lottery Prize
Keegan Byrum Claims Top Prize In '$100,000 Riches' Game
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CLIVE, Iowa — A central Iowa man bought a scratch ticket on a whim and won $100,000.
Keegan Byrum, 31, of Des Moines, won the first top prize in the Iowa Lottery's “$100,000 Riches” scratch game. He bought his winning ticket at Walmart, 1001 73rd St. in Windsor Heights.
“On my way out, I passed one of the vending machines,” he said Tuesday as he claimed his prize at the lottery's main office in Clive. “I saw this $100,000 Riches and it was a newer ticket, so I bought two of them.”
The first ticket he scratched in his car revealed a winning symbol. Sticking with his good-luck habit of scratch prize amounts from right to left, he uncovered a line of zeros.
“I was like, 'Holy cow! $1,000, maybe $10,000,' and the zeros kept going,” Byrum said with a laugh. “I didn't think it was real. Had to scan the ticket myself 10, 15 times.”
He called his girlfriend, who was skeptical at first.
Byrum, a sous chef, said after a sleepless night, he was still formulating a plan for his winnings. At the top of the list are paying off debt, buying a new car, setting some money aside, and taking his four children on a vacation.
“It's just a huge relief, a huge weight off my shoulders,” he said.
The $100,000 Riches game costs $5 per ticket and features prizes from $10 to $100,000 and overall odds of 1 in 2.84. For more information about this game, and the number of prizes still available, visit www.ialottery.com.
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