Pregnant wife thought she won small lottery prize. ‘Hold on! There’s another zero!’

A husband and wife — who “have a baby on the way” — recently used their Iowa lottery winnings to buy another $30 ticket. It was a decision that paid off big.

“We scratched it and then we got $50,” Alexandra Perez-Gonzalez, of West Liberty, told lottery officials. “Then he was like, ‘Buy another one! Maybe we’ll get lucky and win $200, or $100.’”

The 24-year-old woman bought another “Premiere” scratch game ticket and quickly realized they had won again, according to a Sept. 6 news release from the Iowa Lottery.

“I started scratching the prize. I thought it was just $30, and then I saw 30 and two zeroes,” Perez-Gonzalez told lottery officials. “Then I was like, ‘Wait! Jonathan, hold on! There’s another zero here!’”

She had won $30,000, according to the release.

The expecting couple, who currently live in an apartment, is hopeful they can someday have a house for their growing family, officials said.

“It was just a very, very exciting experience,” Perez-Gonzalez said, per the release. “It came when we needed it most and least expected it. We’re very grateful.”

West Liberty, in Muscatine County, is about 50 miles southeast of Cedar Rapids.

This story was originally published September 6, 2023 at 4:15 PM with the headline "Pregnant wife thought she won small lottery prize. ‘Hold on! There’s another zero!’."