NEW YEAR BRINGS NEW MONEY TO CLINTON WOMAN

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Robin Wade Wins Top Prize of $30,000 Playing the "Crossword" Scratch Game

DES MOINES, Iowa – Expecting a $100 prize as she had her ticket validated at a local retailer, a Clinton woman was beside herself with excitement when she won the top prize of $30,000 playing the "Crossword" instant-scratch game.

Robin Wade, 40, currently a full-time college student, said she bought her Crossword ticket for some entertainment and was never expecting to win the top prize.

"I like Crosswords because you get to play the game. It was kind of a fluke thing. I thought it was only a $100 winner at first; and then I went to the gas station to turn it in and it turned out to be a $30,000 winner!" Wade said.

Wanting to be sure she'd heard right, Wade asked the clerk to validate the ticket several times.

"I had the girl put it through the machine like three times to make sure! And it said, 'You're a winner!' every time! I couldn't believe it. I thought it was some kind of mistake," Wade laughed.

Wade hadn't told many people about her win before she had the ticket validated, because she thought she'd only won $100. After discovering her win, Wade called her fiancé Robert Partin and her mother.

"Everybody I tried to call I couldn't get a hold of right away! So I just kept calling people all day long to tell them about it," Wade said.

Wade said everyone she's told about her win is very excited for her.

"I'm like up on a cloud about things, so they're just trying to bring me back to reality a little bit," Wade said.

Wade has a few ideas for her winnings, but said she plans to put the money in the bank for a while so she has time to really think about it.

"It's been a really good experience," she said.

Wade claimed her prize Monday at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids. She bought her winning ticket at Mac's, 1530 N. Second St. in Clinton.

Crossword is a $3 scratch game. Players win a prize by uncovering at least three complete words in the ticket's puzzle. If a player uncovers 10 words, he/she wins $30,000. The overall odds of winning in the game are about 1 in 4.

Wade claimed the last top prize in Crossword game number 612, thus ending the game. A new Crossword, game number 656, is currently available for players.

Since the Iowa Lottery's start in 1985, its players have won more than $2.4 billion in prizes while the lottery has raised more than $1.2 billion for state programs.