Lottery player thinks she won $300 in Iowa. Then, a clerk shows her more zeroes
A 66-year-old woman excitedly took her winning Iowa lottery ticket to the convenience store to cash it in.
When she handed it to the cashier, however, he told her he couldn’t give her the money.
“I said, ‘Why not? It’s $300,” Patricia Weihs asked the cashier. “He said, ‘No. It’s $300,000!’
The winner started screaming in the Yesway convenience store in Walnut, she told lottery officials. Then, the store employee handed her proof of her big win.
“He showed me this slip, and I saw this 3 with all these zeros after it,” she said. “I didn’t know what to say. I mean, what could you say? It’s like you’re mind-blown.”
Weihs said she plans to save her winnings but also is looking at purchasing a new car, she told officials.
“I still can’t wrap my head around it,” she said.
Weihs’ win is the seventh of 16 top prizes from the Ruby Red Crossword game.
Walnut is about an 85-mile drive southwest from Des Moines.
This story was originally published November 6, 2024 at 3:30 PM with the headline "Lottery player thinks she won $300 in Iowa. Then, a clerk shows her more zeroes."
