DES MOINES MAN WINS $30,000 LOTTERY PRIZE

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Wesley Eaton Wins Top Prize Playing the "Crossword" Scratch Game

DES MOINES, Iowa – A Des Moines man says he's glad he always double-checks his "Crossword" scratch tickets.

Wesley Eaton thought he had won $3,000 playing the lottery's Crossword instant-scratch game. When he went over it a second time, he realized it was much more than that.

"I knew it was a winner half-way through. At first I counted them and I thought there was nine words. And I thought, 'Man that's pretty good, $3,000!' I go through and check everything and make sure I'm right, and I thought, 'There’s 10 words there!'" Eaton said.

Eaton went directly into his house to tell his wife and daughter about his win. Neither of them play Crossword, so they were unable to confirm Eaton's win. So to be absolutely sure he had won, Eaton took the ticket back to the store where he purchased it.

"When I got down to Dahl's and they ran it through the machine, both the girls behind the counter just jumped for joy!" he said.

Eaton bought his winning ticket at Dahl's, 3400 E. 33rd St. in Des Moines. He claimed his prize Monday at the Iowa Lottery's headquarters in Des Moines.

Eaton said his wife has asked him to buy her a new freezer with some of his winnings.

"I'll go buy her a freezer today. She's never been to Vegas, so we might take a trip to Vegas, pay off some credit cards and an automobile or two, and enjoy the rest," he said.

Eaton, 56, and some of his co-workers at the City of Des Moines sign shop sometimes split the cost of Crossword scratch tickets over their lunch breaks. He said they're probably wishing this ticket had been one of those.

After his big win, Eaton said he plans to keep playing.

"The old saying, 'You can't win if you don't play," he said.

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.

Twenty prizes of $30,000 are still up for grabs in Crossword as well as 29 prizes of $3,000, over 440 prizes of $300 and more than 2,190 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.