Iowa Lottery

Mount Vernon Man Does Double-Take Over $10,000 Win

Burton Maurer Wins Top Prize Playing "Minute To Win It™" Scratch Game

  Hear Burton tell his story.

To download image, right click on image, then navigate to 'Save Picture As' to save this file to your computer. To download digital audio files of this story, right click here, then navigate to "Save Target As" to save this file to your computer.

DES MOINES, Iowa - A Mount Vernon man said he did a double-take when he discovered he'd won a $10,000 top prize playing the lottery's "Minute To Win It™" instant-scratch game.

Burton Maurer, 67, said he usually plays a few tickets at a time and was down to his final ticket when he discovered his prize.

"I scratched the prize amount. I normally don't like to see it if I didn't win," he said. "But when I scratched the number and saw it had matched, I had to do a double-take."

Maurer immediately took his ticket back to Guppy's On The Go, 200 Hwy. 151 E. in Walford, where he purchased it to have it validated.

"I gave it to the gal and she stuck it under there and came back and said, 'Well, I can't pay you!' And I laughed and said, 'Yeah, I kind of figured that,'" Maurer said. "We were both excited."

Maurer said he got pretty good sleep before claiming his prize Jan. 11 at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids.

"I was kind of in shock most of the time," he said. "I can't believe I did this. I can't believe a scratcher can pay this amount."

Maurer said he plans to share some of his winning with his children as well as put some in savings.

Minute To Win It is a trademark and copyright of NBC Studios, Inc. Licensed by NBCUniversal Television Consumer Products Group 2012. All Rights Reserved.