WATERLOO MAN WINS $12,000 LOTTERY PRIZE

James Apfel Wins Top Prize Playing the "Double Cherry Twist" Scratch Game

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

James Apfel claimed his prize Thursday at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids. He purchased his winning ticket at Kwik Star, 707 Broadway in Waterloo.

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.

Twelve top prizes of $12,000 are still up for grabs in the Double Cherry Twist game, along with more than 190 prizes of $200 prizes and 252 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.