MINOR INCONVENIENCE LEADS CEDAR FALLS MAN
TO $30,000 WIN

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

For media-ready jpeg image of the Robert Groomes click here.

Robert Groomes Wins Top Prize Playing the "Crossword" Scratch Game

DES MOINES, Iowa – When he returned home to a car in his driveway, a Cedar Falls man decided to run to the convenience store to pass the time. He came home with two "Crossword" scratch tickets, and ended up winning the top prize of $30,000!

Robert Groomes, 22, said he was watching TV with his roommates while he scratched the tickets.

"I was lying back on the couch with my roommate and one of his buddies and I said, 'I think this is going to be a big one!'" Groomes laughed. "Once I got it all scratched off, it was the very last letter that got me that last word."

After having his friends check the ticket, Groomes took the ticket back to the retailer to have it validated. The clerk who sold him the ticket also validated it.

"The guy at the gas station said, 'This kid just won $30,000!'" Groomes said.

Since discovering his win, Groomes has told his parents and some friends the news. He said his mom was the one who didn't believe him.

"She did not believe me for the longest time. Finally when I told her in full detail she said, 'You're really not joking are you?'" Groomes said.

Groomes claimed his prize Monday, his day off from Portrait Innovations where he is a photographer, at the Iowa Lottery's headquarters in Des Moines. He purchased his winning ticket at Casey's, 5226 University Ave. in Cedar Falls.

Groomes plans to use some of his winnings to pay off college loans and buy a new computer, among other things.

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.

Seventy-four prizes of $30,000 are still up for grabs in Crossword as well as 114 prizes of $3,000, more than 1,450 prizes of $300 and more than 7,300 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 more than $1.2 billion for state programs.