KNOXVILLE WOMAN WINS $25,000 LOTTERY PRIZE

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Sheryl Pearson Wins Top Prize Playing "Wild Bingo" Scratch Game

DES MOINES, Iowa – A Knoxville woman's face turned red and her breathing accelerated when she discovered her $25,000 win playing the lottery's "Wild Bingo" instant-scratch game.

Sheryl Pearson said she was in no hurry to scratch her ticket; it actually took her more than a day to get it completely scratched off.

"I actually scratched half of the ticket, set it down, ate some pizza that we had bought, went back to the ticket, scratched it later, and the last number was the winning number," Pearson said as she claimed her prize Wednesday at the Iowa Lottery's headquarters in Des Moines.

Pearson, 34, was with her boyfriend Jason Patton when she discovered her win.

"She turned red in the face. She had already had the four corners, so she thought she had won $500 and was already building up on that. She said 'All I need is just this one right here!' And then she scratched off that last one, and then she lost it!" Patton said.

Patton said after checking the numbers himself, he had the same reaction as Pearson.

She bought her winning ticket at Knoxville 66, 306 W. Pleasant St. in Knoxville. Pearson works in customer service at U.S. Cellular.

She said she plans to use her winnings to pay off her car, as well as other debts.

Wild Bingo is a $2 scratch game. Players try to match any complete horizontal, vertical or diagonal line, four corners, or an "X" pattern on one of the four Bingo cards to win the corresponding prize in the prize arrow that points to their card. The overall odds of winning a prize in the game are 1 in 3.57.

Six top prizes of $25,000 have yet to be claimed in Wild Bingo, along with 15 prizes of $2,500, as well as 31 prizes of $500 and more than 240 prizes of $150 and $250.

Since the Iowa Lottery's inception in 1985, more than $2.4 billion has been awarded in prizes and nearly $1.2 billion has been raised for state programs.