CENTER POINT WOMAN STARTS VACATION OFF RIGHT
WITH $30,000 LOTTERY PRIZE

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Tiffany Leehey Wins Big Playing the "Crossword" Scratch Game

DES MOINES, Iowa – A Center Point woman was not expecting to win $30,000 after stopping at a gas station on her way to the Wisconsin Dells with her family.

Tiffany Leehey won the top prize playing "Crossword" instant-scratch game.

Leehey bought her winning ticket at Anamosa Travel Mart, 23485 County Rd. E-34 in Anamosa. She began scratching her ticket in the car, and thought she had won a prize of $3,000. Leehey, her boyfriend and two children decided to stop a little further down the road to have the ticket validated.

"The lady scanned it and she said, 'No it's $30,000, not $3,000!'" Leehey said.

Leehey said she was shocked when she realized her prize was much bigger than she expected.

"I was crying and shaking," she said.

When she told her family of the news, Leehey said everyone started screaming.

"Everyone wanted to count the numbers," she said.

After telling her family, Leehey told a co-worker her big news. Leehey works as a cashier for B & H Fashion Outlet in Cedar Rapids.

"They were on break in the breakroom and she told everyone!" Leehey said. "They were all screaming."

To keep the ticket safe while on vacation, Leehey locked it in the glove compartment of her vehicle.

Leehey claimed her prize Monday at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids.

Leehey plans to pay for a new vehicle she purchased two weeks ago with her winnings.

"No more car payments!" she said.

Leehey said she definitely plans to keep playing.

Crossword 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 prizes of $30,000 are still up for grabs in Crossword as well as 63 prizes of $3,000, 880 prizes of $300 as well as more than 4,235 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.