MASON CITY MAN IN DISBELIEF
AFTER WINNING $30,000 LOTTERY PRIZE

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Colin Quinn shocks his family after winning big in the "Crossword" Scratch Game

DES MOINES, Iowa – A Mason City man says he'll keep playing the lottery after winning the top prize of $30,000 in the "Crossword" scratch game.

Colin Quinn bought his winning ticket at Tobacco Outlet Plus, 1522 S. Federal Ave. in Mason City; a place Quinn says he doesn't frequently go into, let alone buy scratch tickets.

After buying the ticket at the outlet store, Quinn scratched the ticket in his car. After locating three words, Quinn thought he had won a small amount.

"I kept scratching and the words just kept coming. It was crazy actually, I can't really explain it," Quinn said.

Quinn said he drove straight to his father's, and asked his father to count the words as well.

"I counted them, I made my dad count them, and every time we kept coming up with ten," he said.

Quinn was still in disbelief when he brought the ticket Wednesday to the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Mason City.

"I didn't really know for sure until she put it in the machine here," Quinn said. "She said, 'Yep, here's your customer receipt,' and it was for $30,000."

Quinn had not told any of his family except his father and his girlfriend, who were both shocked.

This is the first time Quinn has won a big prize with the Iowa Lottery.

"This is the first time I've won over anything but $10, so it's really amazing," he said.

Quinn said he is planning to save the money for an upcoming vacation in June, and that after his big win, he plans to keep playing the lottery.

"It's just crazy that $3 can turn into this. That's just insane to me," Quinn said.

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-two prizes of $30,000 are still up for grabs in Crossword (orange newsprint) as well as 66 prizes of $3,000, more than 930 prizes of $300 as well as more than 4,510 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.