Cedar Rapids Woman Wins $30,000 Lottery Prize
Amber Finger Wins Top Prize in 'Lightning Cash' Scratch Game
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CLIVE, Iowa - A Cedar Rapids woman bought a lottery ticket on a whim and won a $30,000 lottery prize.
Amber Finger, 32, won the fourth top prize in the Iowa Lottery's "Lightning Cash" scratch game. She bought her winning ticket at Kwik Star, 1900 16th Ave. SW in Cedar Rapids.
"I just kind of go with whatever pops out to me at the moment," she said. "When I was looking at the little glass window of tickets, it just kind of stood out above the rest."
Finger scratched the ticket at her kitchen table and uncovered a matching number. She assumed she'd won a small prize until she kept scratching and realized it was much larger.
"When I saw I matched the number, I was like, 'Oh, I probably won $3,'" she said. "Then I scratched and there was a 3, but then there were some zeros after it!'"
She said her big win felt like a dream.
"I had to check it quite a few times before I was like, 'This is real life, and I can do so many things right now!'" she said.
Finger, who works at a mental health clinic, claimed her prize Monday at the lottery's Cedar Rapids regional office. She plans to use part of her winnings to buy new car tires and pay off an upcoming trip to Jamaica.
Lightning Cash is a $3 scratch game that features eight top prizes of $30,000 and overall odds of 1 in 3.51. For more information about this game, and the number of prizes still available, visit ialottery.com.
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