News : Shellsburg man buys winning lottery ticket

Edited-

The Iowa Lottery announced on their Facebook page that Ed Sass of Shellsburg had bought a winning lottery ticket. Sass said that on Monday morning he bought the ticket at the Quick Stop in Shellsburg.

It wasn't until Tuesday night that he had time to look at the ticket. He had purchased two and the first ticket and it was a loser. When he scratched off the second, he thought his big winner was $50.00. Then he looked again and saw there were more zeroes.

At first, he didn't believe it so he scanned the ticket, and then again a second time to verify that he really was seeing $50,000!

He said that he was originally going to keep the win on his Hawkeye™ Gold scratch ticket quiet. Then the Iowa Lottery announced his win and a member of his Pepper League game saw the news, and you know what happened next. Everyone in the bar found out.

Sass said he doesn't have any big plans for his win. He will be paying off some of the bills, and using some of it for his property taxes and he said maybe he'd do or buy something special, but he said, nothing too big.

Congratulations Ed!

Edited to add the news release from the Iowa Lottery:

A Benton County man delivered a wakeup call to his wife to tell her he'd won a $50,000 lottery prize.

"My wife was already in bed," Edward Sass said on Thursday as he claimed his prize at the lottery's Cedar Rapids regional office. "I had to wake her up and show her. She goes, 'Is this some kind of joke?' I go, 'Nope!'"

Sass, 63, of Shellsburg won the third top prize in the Iowa Lottery's "Hawkeye™ Gold" scratch game. He purchased his winning ticket at Shellsburg Quick Stop, 101 Main St. SW in Shellsburg.

An avid Hawkeye fan, Sass said he chose that ticket because he knew nonwinning tickets from that game can be entered into an Iowa Lottery promotion for a chance to win University of Iowa athletic tickets. He wasn't expecting to win a cash prize on the ticket.

"I go, 'I won $50! No, wait a minute, there's extra zeroes there!'" he said. "I think my heart skipped a beat or two. It's just unbelievable. Usually I just get my $5 or $10, but this was $50,000."

Sass said he scanned his ticket over and over with the Iowa Lottery mobile app. Then he showed the ticket to his wife, Nancy, who insisted he scan it in front of her.

"She goes, 'How come you're not jumping up and down?'" he said. "I go, 'I don't want to have a heart attack!'"

Sass said he and his wife plan to use the winnings to retire debt.

The Hawkeye Gold scratch game features the distinctive Tigerhawk™ logo and the Hawkeyes' black and gold colors. The game offers 10 top prizes of $50,000 and overall odds of 1 in 3.40.

From now until 9:59 a.m. on Feb. 5, 2024, players can enter nonwinning tickets from the Hawkeye Gold scratch game into the Countdown to Carver™ promotion for a chance to win Iowa men's and women's basketball tickets, and Iowa men's wrestling tickets.

For rules and complete details about this promotion, visit www.ialottery.com.