FORT MADISON WOMAN WINS $30,000 LOTTERY PRIZE

For media-ready jpeg image of Mary Sickels click here.

Mary Sickels Wins Top Prize of $30,000 Playing the "Crossword" (orange newsprint) Scratch Game

DES MOINES, Iowa – A Fort Madison woman won the top prize of $30,000 playing the "Crossword" (orange newsprint) scratch game.

Mary Sickels claimed her prize Wednesday at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids. She bought her winning ticket at Tom's Market and Meats, 550 Division St. in Burlington.

Crossword (orange newsprint) 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.

Fifty-six prizes of $30,000 are still up for grabs in Crossword (orange newsprint) as well as 76 prizes of $3,000, more than 1,100 prizes of $300 as well as more than 5,400 prizes of $100.

Since the Iowa Lottery's start in 1985, its players have won more than $2.2 billion in prizes while the lottery has raised more than $1.1 billion for state programs.