MASON CITY — A Clear Lake man opened 2024 on a high note by scratching off a $10,000 lottery prize.
“Pretty exciting,” David Gruenberg of Clear Lake said on Tuesday as he claimed his prize at the lottery’s Mason City regional office. “It’s a great way to start the year!”
Gruenberg, 70, won the fourth prize of $10,000 in the Iowa Lottery’s “Starry Night” scratch game. He bought his winning ticket at Pilot Travel Center, 2411 U.S. Highway 18 E. in Clear Lake.
“I went out to the car, scratched it off, looked at the numbers and thought, ‘Is this right?’ and sure enough, it was,” he said. “It’s pretty hard to believe.”
Gruenberg, who said he plans to save his winnings for now, said he was eager to show his children a photo of him at the lottery with a big novelty check.
“I’ll show them this big check, and then they’ll believe,” he said with a laugh.
Starry Night is a $20 holiday-themed scratch game that features 17 top prizes of $25,000, 17 prizes of $10,000 and overall odds of 1 in 2.38.
From now until 9:59 a.m. on Jan. 8, 2024, players can enter nonwinning holiday scratch tickets into the “Million Dollar Holiday” promotion, which will award a total of $1 million in prizes, including a $500,000 top prize.