Visiting owl inspires woman to buy Iowa lottery ticket in memory of mom. She wins big
Dawn Costa and her mother used to frequently play Iowa Lottery’s Lucky for Life game together.
But when her mom died about two years ago, Costa said she stopped playing the lottery game.
That was until recently, when a visit from an owl inspired the 57-year-old woman to buy a Lucky for Life ticket in memory of her mom, according to a Jan. 17 news release from the Iowa Lottery.
The owl landed on Costa’s deck in Waterloo last week and “stayed for some time,” lottery officials said.
“My mom loved owls. And everybody in that condo always says they’ve never seen owls there,” Costa said in the release. “And they’re like, ‘Why is it always at your house?’ Well, I know why.”
The day after that special visit, Costa said she decided to buy her first Lucky for Life ticket since her mom’s death.
Her easy-pick ticket numbers didn’t match the Lucky Ball during the Jan. 12 drawing, officials said, but she matched the first five numbers for the game’s second top prize of $25,000 a year for life.
The evening before driving to claim her prize at the Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive, she looked for the owl again, according to the release.
“So last night, I was outside and I said, ‘Mom, you need to come back!’” Costa recalled to lottery officials. “And I was looking over there where the owl is supposed to be because I know that’s her. I went out there this morning and she was sitting there.”
When claiming her prize, Costa was given two options: $25,000 a year for life with a guaranteed payout of at least 20 years, or a one-time lump payment of $390,000.
She chose the lump-sum payment, officials said, and plans to pay off the mortgage of her condominium and invest. Costa also plans to continue playing Lucky for Life, and she’s already bought some tickets for one of her sisters.
“I’ve got my family to hang out with and my owl to look for every night,” she said in the release. “That’s what I’m going to do.”
Her winning ticket was sold at a Kwik Star in Waterloo. The winning numbers for the Jan. 12 drawing were 3-12-17-42-45 with a Lucky Ball of 6.
This story was originally published January 18, 2023 at 7:30 AM with the headline "Visiting owl inspires woman to buy Iowa lottery ticket in memory of mom. She wins big."