CLIVE, IA — A southeast Iowa man said he couldn’t sit still after scratching off a $100,000 lottery prize.
“I couldn’t quit screaming for probably 10 minutes, jumping up and down,” Dale Lemon said with a laugh on Thursday as he claimed his prize at lottery headquarters in Clive. “My son’s telling me, ‘Don’t have a heart attack!’ It was really awesome.”
Lemon, 64, of Delta, won the 11th top prize in the Iowa Lottery’s “$100,000 Mega Crossword” scratch game. He bought his winning ticket at Yesway, 2508 N. Court St. in Ottumwa, where he’d stopped while running errands.
In the $100,000 Mega Crossword game, players try to complete words with a given set of letters. The more words that are completed, the bigger the prize. Lemon said he noticed he was completing more words than usual.
“I checked and I’ve got five words,” he recalled. “Got one letter last to scratch, and it gave me ‘who,’ and it was me who won!’”
Lemon said he knows just what he’ll do with his winnings.
“Pay off my mortgage and then live free, because I’m out of debt,” he said.
