CEDAR RAPIDS MAN WINS $12,000 LOTTERY PRIZE

Thomas Allie Wins First Top Prize Playing the "Double Cherry Twist" Scratch Game

DES MOINES, Iowa – A Cedar Rapids man won the first top prize of $12,000 playing the lottery's "Double Cherry Twist" instant-scratch game.

Thomas Allie claimed his prize Thursday at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids. He purchased his winning ticket at Hy-Vee, 1556 First Ave. N.E. in Cedar Rapids.

The Double Cherry Twist scratch game is a $2 ticket. If players match any three like symbols in the same spin, they win the amount of the prize shown. If players find the "cherry" symbol, they win double the prize shown. If players find the "twist" symbol, they win all ten prizes shown instantly. Overall odds in the game are 1 in 3.56.

Allie claimed the first of 15 top prizes of $12,000 in the Double Cherry Twist game. Two hundred-sixteen prizes of $200 prizes are still up for grabs in the game, as well as 283 prizes of $100.

Since the Iowa Lottery's inception 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.