SLEEPY PLAYER GETS ENERGY BOOST FROM LATE-NIGHT WIN

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Emi Borchers Wins the Top Prize of $30,000 Playing the "Jingle Bell Crossword" Scratch Game

DES MOINES, Iowa – A Humboldt County woman got a late-night surprise when she scratched her "Jingle Bell Crossword" ticket and discovered a $30,000 prize!

Emi Borchers, 47, picked up her scratch tickets on the way to her daughter's musical. She forgot all about them until late the next night.

"I was so tired. And I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I won!' I'm like, 'Oh, this can't be right! Oh no, it's right!' So I woke up my husband at like three in the morning and he's dead tired now," Borchers said.

Borchers said her husband Bruce had to calm her down and remind her she needed to take the ticket to a lottery office to have it validated.

Borchers, who is from the small town of Renwick, claimed her prize Monday at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Mason City. She bought her winning ticket at Hy-Vee, 611 10th Ave. N. in Humboldt.

Borchers said she likes playing all versions of the Crossword games because they keep her busy. She said this win comes at a great time.

Borchers said she thinks of herself as a lucky person; she has won jackpots playing at casinos in the past. She said she plans to use her winnings to pay bills and buy a new car.

"I'd like a smaller car," Borchers said.

Jingle Bell Crossword is a $3 scratch game. Players win a prize 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.

Sixteen prizes of $30,000 are still up for grabs in Jingle Bell Crossword as well as 25 prizes of $3,000, more than 290 prizes of $300 as well as more than 1,430 prizes of $100.

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.