Wife scratches winning Iowa lottery ticket as husband was driving. ‘I was screaming’

A mom who began playing the lottery this year recently inspired her daughter in Iowa to buy a scratch-off ticket while grocery shopping. Now her daughter is celebrating a $50,000 win.

Patricia Rubin, of Ogden, was at Hy-Vee when she decided to buy a “Super Cash” scratch game ticket, according to a news release from the Iowa Lottery.

“I’m like, ‘I’m just going to try it with her,’” Rubin told lottery officials. “I hadn’t done this in a long time that I’ve bought a scratcher, especially a $5 scratcher.”

She waited to scratch off her ticket until her husband was driving them home. Then she realized she had won the game’s sixth top prize.

“It was $50,000, and I was screaming like I won a million dollars,” Rubin recalled. “It’s mind-blowing. It’s just a random thing that made me stop and pick up this ticket. It’s a lot of fun to win a little bit of money. I’ve won $25, but I’ve never done this before.”

Though it may not have been a $1 million win, Rubin was still thrilled about her luck.

“I was so excited I couldn’t go to sleep,” she said in the release.

She plans to use some of her prize money for an upcoming Disney World family vacation, and she said she’ll invest most of the winnings for her retirement, officials said.

Ogden is about 50 miles northwest of Des Moines.

This story was originally published February 23, 2023 at 9:07 AM with the headline "Wife scratches winning Iowa lottery ticket as husband was driving. ‘I was screaming’."