Iowa Lottery

$50,000 Winning Ticket Sold In Algona

George Cunningham Wins Top Prize of $50,000 Playing "Sizzling 7's" Scratch Game

  Hear George tell his story.

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DES MOINES, Iowa - A Missouri man won a top prize of $50,000 playing the lottery's "Sizzling 7's" instant-scratch game with a ticket he purchased in Algona.

George Cunningham, 41 of Urbana, Mo., was working at the Hormel Plant in Algona when he went on a break with his coworkers.

"One of the guys bought a ticket and I came back and bought the one behind him," said Cunningham. "Just being a silly guy," he added, "And it won $50,000!"

Cunningham said his coworker now wishes he would have bought the next ticket.

"(He's) glad at least one of us got it," said Cunningham.

He scratched the ticket while in the truck with his coworkers, but they still had a hard time believing he had won.

"I won a good one," he said to his coworkers. "The guys were like, 'What did you really win?'"

"I said, 'Fifty thousand!'" exclaimed Cunningham.

He let his friends and family know as soon as he could that he had won, but they also had a hard time accepting that fact.

"They were, 'No you didn't, what did you win?'" said Cunningham. "I had to keep telling them."

He is planning on getting a new boat with some of his winnings.

Cunningham purchased his winning ticket at Casey's, 1414 N. Main St. in Algona. He claimed his prize Wednesday at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Mason City.