A nurse has told how she was left lost for words after winning a USD300,000 jackpot on a crossword lotto scratchcard.
Lucky Renae Beeck – from the city of Hinton, Iowa State, USA – had bought the ticket when she stopped for petrol but kept it in her bag until lunchtime.
But as she gradually scratched off more and more winning letters in the Colossal Crossword game she realised she had struck it big.
Renea, 39, said in a statement obtained by Newsflash from Iowa Lottery: “I’m like, ‘Oh, I think I won USD 1,000 [GBP 790]!’ And I was so excited.
“Then I was like, ‘I think I won USD 10,000 [GBP 7,900]!’
“I was counting them and I think I counted them probably a hundred times. Then I said, ‘No, I won USD 300,000 [GBP 237,303]!'”
She added: “It’s just a feeling of shock.
“I think your mind just goes blank, you’re so excited. This is kind of a life-changing amount for me, so I was very happy.
Renea bought the USD 30 (GBP 24) ticket at Casey’s in the city of Glenwood.
At lottery headquarters on 12th June Beeck revealed she will use some of the winnings for a holiday and save most of the money for her retirement.
She said: “The first thing we’re going to do as a family is we’re going on vacation. I’d like to go to Hawaii or somewhere fun.”
Iowa Lottery officials added: “Colossal Crossword is a USD 30 [GBP 24] scratch game that features 19 top prizes of SUD 300,000 [GBP 237,303], 56 prizes of USD 10,000 [GBP 7,900] and overall odds of 1 in 2.29.”
