CLIVE — A northern Iowa man who purchased a pair of lottery tickets said he was shocked to win $50,000 on one of them.
“The other one wasn’t any good, but I guess this one more than made up for it,” Kenneth Putnam said with a laugh as he claimed his prize at the lottery’s Mason City regional office.
Putnam, 77, of Osage, won the 26th top prize in the Iowa Lottery’s “$50,000 Super Crossword” scratch game. He purchased his winning ticket at Casey’s, 1430 Main St. in Osage.
“I decided I had nothing to do that afternoon so I bought a couple tickets, went home and scratched them,” Putnam said. “I was shocked at first. I kept looking at the letters and going through it probably four or five times at least because I couldn’t believe it.”
Putnam said he plans to invest the bulk of his winnings, but will set some aside for a nice celebratory dinner.
The $50,000 Super Crossword is a $5 scratch game that features 105 top prizes of $50,000 and overall odds of 1 in 3.26.