Jolene Ronek Wins Top Prize Playing "Triple Platinum 777" Scratch Game
Hear Jolene tell her story.
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DES MOINES, Iowa - When a Davenport woman discovered she'd won the very last top prize of $100,000 playing the "Triple Platinum 777" game on her break at work, she couldn't believe what she saw.
Jolene Ronek, 50, scratched the ticket during her evening break where she works as a machinist.
"I started shaking and I couldn't believe what I saw," Ronek said. "I took it to the break room to show all the other guys and I was in tears. They told me to sign it right away."
Ronek said her head was fuzzy because she couldn't believe the win was real.
"I kept looking at those zeros and going, 'No, that isn't right,'" she said.
Ronek told her family about her big win before claiming her prize Thursday at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids. Ronek said it also put everyone at work in a great mood for the rest of the evening shift.
"One of the guys at work got on the radio and told everyone," Ronek said with a laugh. "Everybody was just happy that someone they knew won."
Ronek said she was really surprised to get the big winner, because it was the very first ticket in a new pack of Triple Platinum 777 tickets at the QC Mart, 1402 State St. in Bettendorf.
Ronek said she's looking forward to using her winnings to become debt-free and also plans to use some to take a trip this summer
"We travel all over riding motorcycles," she said.