MECHANICSVILLE MAN PROVES TO FRIENDS IT CAN HAPPEN

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Ryan Roth Wins the Top Prize of $30,000 Playing the "Treasure Hunter" Scratch Game

DES MOINES, Iowa – A University of Dubuque student recently proved to his roommate and friends he was lucky by winning a $30,000 lottery prize!

Ryan Roth, 21, won the top prize playing the lottery's "Treasure Hunter" instant-scratch game.

"My friends are always like, 'It's not going to happen,' and then it did!" Roth said as he claimed his prize Monday at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids.

Roth, who is a full-time student from Mechanicsville studying criminal justice, flight operations and military science, discovered his win late Sunday night.

"I went running into my roommate's room screaming, 'I won!'" he said.

Roth said his roommate didn't believe him until he saw the ticket. Roth then called his parents to tell them the news, but his mom didn't believe him at first either.

"I kept telling her I wouldn't be calling her this late to play a joke on her," he said with a laugh.

Roth said he plans to use some of his winnings to buy a few things for himself and add to his upcoming trip to Las Vegas with friends, as well as pay off student loans.

Roth bought his winning ticket at Kwik Stop Food Mart, 2320 Gateway Drive Highway in Dubuque.

Treasure Hunter is a $3 scratch game. Players win a prize by first uncovering the "Coordinates For Treasure Map" and then uncovering the corresponding squares on the "Treasure Map." If a player completely uncovers a symbol, they win the prize shown in the prize legend for that symbol. Players can win up to $30,000. The overall odds of winning in the game are about 1 in 3.93.

Three prizes of $30,000 are still up for grabs in Treasure Hunter as well as six prizes of $3,000 and more than 110 prizes of $300.

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