EARLVILLE MAN WINS $30,000 LOTTERY PRIZE

For media-ready jpeg image of Dale Welsh click here.

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

DES MOINES, Iowa – An Earlville man won the top prize of $30,000 playing the "Crossword" (orange newsprint) scratch game.

Dale Welsh claimed his prize Friday at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids. He bought his winning ticket at 1st Stop Handy Shop, 425 Northern Ave. in Earlville.

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.

Forty-eight prizes of $30,000 are still up for grabs in Crossword (orange newsprint) as well as 69 prizes of $3,000, more than 1,010 prizes of $300 as well as more than 4,875 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.