DAVENPORT COUPLE CLAIMS TWO $100,000 PRIZES
FROM SAME LOTTERY DRAWING

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Patrick and Rita Hagner Won Prizes With Tickets Purchased At Same C-Store

DES MOINES, Iowa – A Davenport man said he just followed a feeling when he bought two sets of the same numbers in a lottery drawing – and his tickets ended up winning $200,000!

"This particular day, since I was going to spend $2 and only one set of numbers could win, I thought, 'I'll just play the same numbers twice,'" Patrick Hagner said Thursday as he and his wife, Rita, each claimed one of the $100,000 prizes. "It was just a feeling."

Patrick Hagner, 76, who is retired from the Deere & Co. plant in East Moline, Ill., and Rita Hagner, 75, a retired teacher, both said they realize they beat long odds and are very lucky.

"Oh yes, that's really something," Rita Hagner said. "I mean, the fact that he bought two tickets is really unusual!"

Patrick Hagner said he'll tell people that he's "one of the luckiest guys in the world."

"I feel great!" he said.

Rita chose the numbers they played, made up of the birth dates of some of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and Patrick bought both sets of winning numbers at the Hawkeye Convenience Store, 6807 Northwest Blvd. in Davenport. The Hagners were double winners of the top prize in the Dec. 2 drawing of Iowa's $100,000 Cash Game. The winning numbers that night were: 3-7-12-16-22. The $100,000-winning tickets both matched all five numbers drawn to win the top prize.

Lottery officials said it is unusual for there to be two top-prize winning tickets in a single drawing, and the Hagners' situation is even more unusual because both tickets were purchased at the same store.

Iowa Lottery acting CEO Ken Brickman likened it to lightning striking twice in the same spot.

"That's what is possible in the realm of random statistics – sometimes there can be unusual outcomes," he said.

Players in Iowa's $100,000 Cash Game choose five numbers from a pool of 35. Tickets in the game cost $1 and drawings are held at 6:28 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Rita Hagner said she realized first that they may have won big when she saw the winning numbers scroll across the screen on a local television station.

"And I thought, 'You know, they look familiar!'" she said. "That was a really big surprise, actually, that that happened, because I think odds would not always be in somebody's favor for something that big. But they evidently were OK for us!"

The Hagners claimed their prizes at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids. They said they plan to pay off their mortgage, make a donation to their church, and make Christmas extra-special for their family.

Patrick Hagner said they'll continue playing the $100,000 Cash Game – and they plan to keep winning.

"We'll see you again next week!" he said with a laugh to lottery staff on Thursday.

The Quad Cities have had good luck of late in lottery games. On Nov. 21, a man from Milan, Ill., claimed a $200,000 Powerball® prize he had won on a ticket he purchased in Bettendorf. John Glidewell had purchased his ticket at the Big 10 Mart, 999 Middle Road in Bettendorf, for the Nov. 19 Powerball drawing. His ticket matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball to win a $200,000 prize.

Winning numbers may be checked at the lottery Web site at www.ialottery.com or through the winning numbers' hot line at (515) 323-4633. Winning numbers may also be checked with lottery retail outlets or by calling the lottery at (515) 725-7900 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday.

Since the Iowa Lottery's start in 1985, its players have won more than $2.2 billion in prizes while the lottery has raised more than $1.1 billion for state programs.