Cedar Rapids Woman Wins $30,000 Lottery Prize
Krystal Renken Wins Top Prize in 'Word Match' Game
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.
CLIVE, Iowa - A Cedar Rapids woman who won a $30,000 lottery prize said she initially thought her prize was much smaller.
Krystal Renken, 58, won the fifth top prize in the "Word Match" scratch game. She bought her winning ticket at Hy-Vee Gas, 2300 Bowling St. SW in Cedar Rapids, and scratched it when she returned home. At first, she uncovered only nine completed words.
"I thought it was only for $1,000," she told officials on Friday as she claimed her prize at the lottery's Cedar Rapids regional office. "But then when I scanned it, it came up $30,000. I was like, 'What?!'"
She scoured the play area until she found the 10th and final word. Her celebration woke up her husband in another other room.
"I found the other word and started jumping and screaming," she said with a laugh. "He kind of woke up, heard me screaming and then rolled over and went back to sleep."
Renken said she's thinking about using her winnings to buy a new truck.
"I haven't really been out shopping yet, but I figured today I'd start after I put this money in the bank," she said.
Word Match is a $3 scratch game that features eight top prizes of $30,000 and overall odds of 1 in 3.33. For more information about this game, and the number of prizes still available, visit ialottery.com.
Return to top↑