Emmet County Man Wins Big Lottery Prize
Jon Jackson Claims Jackpot Prize In InstaPlay Lottery Game
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CLIVE, Iowa — An Emmet County man bought a lottery ticket on a trip for milk and won more than $70,000.
Jon Jackson of Estherville won an Extreme Green Progressive InstaPlay jackpot prize of $70,922. He purchased his winning ticket at Hy-Vee, 1221 Central Ave. in Estherville.
"I went to go get milk and cash in a $40 ticket," Jackson, 42, told officials on Wednesday as he claimed his prize at the lottery's Storm Lake regional office. "Instead, I came home with said $40 ticket and a ticket for $70,922."
Jackson said he wasn't able to redeem his $40 winner because the store's customer service counter was closed. While he was there, he decided to buy a couple more Extreme Green Progressive tickets from the store's self-service lottery kiosk.
"I scan the first one and it said I won $70,922, and I think everybody in the store heard me," he said with a laugh. "I wholeheartedly did not believe it was real. I had goosebumps on every piece of me. My heart raced and jumped out of my chest."
The Extreme Green Progressive jackpot starts at $20,000 and increases with each ticket sold statewide until it is won.
Jackson said he plans to put his winnings toward his side businesses, which include a pest control company, a camper rental service and a floating food truck.
"I have a couple businesses that I have co-owned and have kind of done passively," he said. "I think this is going to allow us to use the seed money to make it a little less passive and maybe get a little more serious about it."
The InstaPlay product combines features from instant-scratch and lotto games. InstaPlay tickets are called "scratchless" because they have no security coating that needs to be removed to determine the prize won. And rather than having supplies of tickets printed in advance like those in traditional scratch and pull-tab games, InstaPlay tickets are printed on demand from the lottery terminal.
InstaPlay games range in price from $1 to $20. For more information, visit www.ialottery.com.
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