SE Iowa Woman Has 'Feeling' To Play The Lottery, Wins Progressive Jackpot Prize
Christina Harrill Claims $15,708.20 Jackpot Prize in 'Cherry Twist Progressive' InstaPlay Game
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CLIVE, Iowa – A southeast Iowa woman said she had a 'feeling' to play the lottery last week and her intuition ended up paying off.
Christina Harrill of Washington claimed a progressive jackpot of $15,708.20 in the Iowa Lottery's "Cherry Twist Progressive" InstaPlay game, a $2 ticket. InstaPlay is a lottery product known as a scratchless scratch ticket.
Harrill, 37, said she had been watching the jackpot in the Cherry Twist Progressive game climb for several days and decided to buy some tickets Jan. 2 at Unc & Neph's, 1015 W. Madison St. in Washington. One of the tickets she bought ended up winning the game's jackpot. The Cherry Twist Progressive jackpot starts at $2,000 and grows with each ticket sold statewide until someone wins it.
"I just had a feeling so I kept on playing," Harrill told lottery employees the same day as she claimed her prize at the lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids. "When I saw the three melons going across and it said "jackpot," it was very exciting."
Harrill, who works as a server, said she plans to use a majority of her winnings to pay bills and save the rest.
InstaPlay combines features from instant-scratch and lotto games and gives players a new option with no numbers to pick, playslips to fill out or wait for a drawing. InstaPlay tickets are "scratchless" because they have no security coating that needs to be removed to determine the prize won. And rather than having supplies of tickets printed in advance like those in traditional scratch and pull-tab games, InstaPlay tickets are printed on demand from the lottery terminal, as in lotto games like Powerball® and Mega Millions®. But the play style of InstaPlay tickets is similar to that of scratch tickets, with symbols and numbers that need to match in order to win a prize.
InstaPlay games range in price from $1 to $5. More details about how to play this game, and number of prizes still up for grabs in it can be found on the Iowa Lottery's website, www.ialottery.com.
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