EARLY BIRTHDAY PRESENT FOR AUDUBON WOMAN

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

DES MOINES, Iowa – An Audubon woman received an early birthday present when she won the top prize of $30,000 playing the "Crossword" (orange newsprint) scratch game.

Norma Haskins bought three scratch tickets and thought she had done well when she won a few dollars on her first scratch ticket.

"The first one was a $3 winner. So I figured I got my money back," explained Haskins to lottery staff Tuesday. "The next one I scratched and I thought, 'That’s seven of them. That's $100. That's good."

But as she finished scratching her Crossword ticket, Haskins uncovered three more words, making the 10 she needed to win the top prize.

"I went back, recounted, and I had 10," exclaimed Haskins. "I couldn't believe it, could not believe it."

Haskins headed right back to the store where she purchased her Crossword tickets to have the winner validated.

"I had it checked and then the manager came down, the owner actually, congratulated me and told me to get that cashed in and hang onto it in a safe place," said Haskins. "He was really happy. I got a big hug from him."

Haskins bought her winning ticket at Food Pride, Highway 71 N. in Audubon.

She will turn 76 at the end of May and said this was a nice early birthday present. And it wasn't long before the whole town knew about her big win.

She said, "I live in small-town Iowa. It doesn't take long for news to travel. I was getting calls last night congratulating me and how happy people were."

Haskins said her only thoughts right now about how she'll spend her winnings are on getting her lawn treated.

"It still really hasn't sunk in yet," said Haskins. "I got a few dandelions in my yard, so I'll probably get that sprayed. But otherwise, I hadn't really thought about anything."

Haskins planned to save the rest of her winnings for a rainy day.

"If anything comes up and you need some money, it's there," stated Haskins.

And her final piece of advice for other players: "If you don't play, you can't win."

Haskins claimed her prize at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Council Bluffs.

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-five prizes of $30,000 are still up for grabs in Crossword (orange newsprint) as well as 74 prizes of $3,000, more than 1,100 prizes of $300 as well as more than 5,320 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.