Days After Losing His Father, New Hampton Man Wins $500,000 Prize
Charles Stanton Claims Top Prize In '500X' Scratch Game
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CLIVE, Iowa — Grief and joy collided for a New Hampton man when he won a $500,000 lottery prize just two days after his father's death.
Charles Stanton said he believes his father, Duane, had a part in his big win.
“I know he guided me there that day,” Stanton said Thursday as he claimed his prize at the lottery's main office in Clive. “It was his way of telling me everything's going to be OK.”
Stanton, 55, won a top prize in the Iowa Lottery's “500X” scratch game. He went out for a Sunday morning drive, stopped for a bite to eat at Love's Travel Stop, 100 Monroe St. in Floyd, and on a whim decided to buy a lottery ticket, too.
“I scratched it off and it came up on the screen that I had to go to the main lottery office for a $500,000-winning ticket,” Stanton recalled. “I actually asked the cashier, 'Do you guys have another scanner? I'm not sure this one's working.'”
He checked the ticket on a second scanner, then verified the result with the Iowa Lottery mobile app on his phone, just to be sure.
“That's when it sank in: I really did win this,” he said.
After sitting on the news for nine days while focusing on family, he and his wife, Marla, made the drive to claim his prize.
An electrician, Stanton owns an electrical contracting business his father started 51 years ago. He said he plans to use some of his winnings for his hobby farm and will take time before making bigger decisions.
He also joked that some of the winnings may help fund a tradition on his annual golf trip.
“I'd like to start a little trust fund to buy at least the first round at the whiskey bar for a few years,” he said with a laugh.
500X is a $50 scratch game that features 12 top prizes of $500,000, 39 prizes of $25,000 and overall odds of 1 in 4.33. For more information about this game, and the number of prizes still available, visit www.ialottery.com.
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