DAVENPORT MAN WINS $50,000 LOTTERY PRIZE

To download digital audio files of this story, right click here, then navigate to "Save Target As" to save this file to your computer.

For media-ready jpeg image of Bob Corbin click here.

Bob Corbin Wins Top Prize Playing the "Black Pearls" Scratch Game

DES MOINES, Iowa – A Davenport man said his first $5 win led to winning the top prize of $50,000 playing the lottery's "Black Pearls" instant-scratch game.

Bob Corbin thought he was seeing things as he scratched off his winning ticket.

"I had a $5 winner before so I took it in and exchanged it for a new one and went out to my car, scratched it off and had to double-take - take a look a couple times to make sure I was correct seeing that 50,000," Corbin explained.

Corbin, who is employed at Kraft Foods in Davenport, said he immediately visited his wife at the school where she is the principal and they celebrated his big win.

"It was very, very shocking and I always said, 'Hey, just give me one time,' and I got it - it happened!" he said.

Corbin, 46, claimed his prize June 22 at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids. He purchased his winning ticket at Tobacco Outlet Plus, 2923 Brady St. in Davenport.

Black Pearls is a $5 scratch game. Players try to win a prize by matching any of "Your Numbers" to any "Winning Numbers" to win the prize shown for that number. If players find the "2X" symbol, they win double the prize amount shown. Players who find the "5X" symbol win five times the prize amount shown for that symbol.

Three top prizes of $50,000 are still up for grabs in Black Pearls as well as 16 prizes of $5,000, more than 80 prizes of $500, and more than 50 prizes of $100.

Corbin said he plans to pay some bills with his winnings. He said he and his wife also will use some money to visit his daughter, who is going overseas to study for a semester.

Since the Iowa Lottery's start in 1985, its players have won more than $2.4 billion in prizes while the lottery has raised more than $1.2 billion for state programs.