MONTICELLO WOMAN WINS $30,000

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Betty Prull Wins Top Prize in Scratch Game

DES MOINES, Iowa - A Jones County woman recently won the top prize in a favorite Iowa Lottery scratch game.

Betty Prull of Monticello won $30,000 playing the “Crossword” (purple newsprint) instant-scratch game. She purchased the winning ticket at Casey's, 627 S. Main St. in Monticello and claimed her prize at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids.

Prull said the winning ticket had been lying on a table for a couple of days before she decided to scratch it.

“I was in my jammies…getting ready for bed, and I thought, ‘I'll scratch this,’” she said of the night she found out she'd won $30,000. “Of course then I had to get dressed right away and run down to the Casey's store to make sure it was [a winner]. [I] couldn't believe it.”

Prull said she'll share her winnings with her family.

Crossword (purple newsprint) is a $3 scratch game. Players win 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.

Thirty-seven prizes of $30,000 are still up for grabs in the game, as well as approximately 59 prizes of $3,000, about 800 prizes of $300 and about 3,900 prizes of $100.

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.