OTTUMWA WOMAN WINS $30,000 LOTTERY PRIZE

For media-ready jpeg image of Wendy Merrill click here.

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

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

Wendy Merrill claimed her prize Wednesday at the Iowa Lottery headquarters in Des Moines. She bought her winning ticket at Kum & Go, 502 W. Second St. in Ottumwa.

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-five prizes of $30,000 are still up for grabs in Crossword (orange newsprint) as well as 69 prizes of $3,000, more than 1,000 prizes of $300 as well as more than 4,800 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.