CENTRAL IOWA WOMAN CLAIMS TOP PRIZE
IN ‘IOWA'S MILLION DOLLAR RAFFLE’ GAME

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Kimberly Edwards Bought $1 Million-Winning Ticket In West Branch

DES MOINES, Iowa - A central Iowa woman claimed the $1 million top prize Wednesday in the Iowa Lottery's first cash raffle game.

Kimberly Edwards of rural Pleasant Hill said she had two-wheeled transportation in mind for part of her winnings in “Iowa's Million Dollar Raffle.”

“I'm going to get a bigger Harley!” Edwards said with a laugh as she claimed her prize at lottery headquarters in Des Moines. Edwards said she already has a Harley Davidson motorcycle, but has been eyeing a new bike. “It just might have my name on it. We'll see!” she said.

Edwards, who works as a utility operator on a natural gas repair crew for MidAmerican Energy, said her husband, Steve, also just bought a new motorcycle, so they can have fun riding. She also plans to do some financial planning, but did not have anything specific in mind.

The winning numbers in “Iowa's Million Dollar Raffle” were drawn Tuesday. The lottery selected Edwards' ticket bearing the number “10050544” as the winner of the game's top prize of $1 million.

Edwards said she bought just two tickets in the game. She purchased the winning ticket at Kum & Go, 620 S. Downey in West Branch, when she and her husband stopped to buy gasoline while on their way to a weekend getaway in Chicago.

“We just stopped in West Branch to get gas,” Edwards said. “We were just driving through - and they were very friendly! I'd stop there again!”

A ticket with the number “10042818” was selected as the winner of the game's $100,000 prize. It was sold at Kum & Go, 303 W. Broadway, Polk City, and had not been claimed as of Wednesday.

Winning numbers for 110 other prizes also were selected in the drawing.

The Kum & Go locations that sold the game's top two prizes will receive bonuses from the lottery for selling those tickets. The West Branch store will receive a $1,000 bonus while the Polk City store will receive a $100 bonus.

The game's $1 million prize had to be claimed at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Des Moines, while the $100,000 and $5,000 prizes can be claimed at lottery headquarters or its regional offices in Council Bluffs, Storm Lake, Mason City or Cedar Rapids. The game's $500 prizes can be claimed at retail locations or the lottery's offices. The deadline to claim raffle prizes is the close of business on Monday, Sept. 15.

Sales began April 13 in the raffle game and continued through Saturday via the lottery's sales and validations terminals in retail locations across the state. Each $20 raffle ticket was printed with a unique number.

Raffle players must have their tickets to check them against the winning numbers and must present them to claim a prize.

Edwards said she was at home by herself Tuesday evening when she logged onto the Iowa Lottery's Web site to check the raffle drawing results. The numbers listed there for the $1 million ticket looked familiar, she said.

“I normally don't look at numbers, so I went and got the ticket and realized it was a winning ticket,” she said. “I thought, ‘Wow. I can't believe this.’”

Edwards said she called her husband who was still at work to share the good news.

“I said, ‘You're not going to believe this, but I won! I won a million dollars!’ And there was just silence. He's like, ‘No way! Are you sure?’“ she said. “And I said, ‘Yeah!’ Then I had to wait for him to get home!”

The winning numbers in Iowa's Million Dollar Raffle game are:

The winning raffle numbers have been posted on the lottery Web site at www.ialottery.com and are available via reports printed from lottery terminals. In addition, the lottery will print the winning numbers in newspaper ads across the state and on posters that will be put up in retail locations. The winning numbers also will be available at the lottery's offices in Council Bluffs, Storm Lake, Des Moines, Mason City and Cedar Rapids.

Since the Iowa Lottery's inception in 1985, more than $2.1 billion has been awarded in prizes and more than $1.1 billion has been raised for state programs.

Raffle top prize: $1 million
Federal withholding: $250,000
State withholding: $50,000
After-tax amount: $700,000