Woman wins big Iowa Lottery prize — and makes 3:30 a.m. calls to share exciting news

After finishing her late-night shift at the Des Moines, Iowa, restaurant she works for, Veronica Cruz said she stopped at a Casey’s convenience store. While there, she decided to buy a “Super 20s” scratch game ticket.

She waited until she got home to scratch her ticket, and when she did, she thought she had won $100, according to a news release from the Iowa Lottery.

But her actual prize was worth much, much more.

Cruz realized she actually won the $20 game’s top prize — $100,000, according to lottery officials. And she couldn’t contain her excitement.

“She said her celebration woke up her entire household,” according to the lottery.

Cruz wanted to tell others, too.

“I called anyone that I thought would answer the phone at 3:30 a.m. and just celebrated with everyone else the next day,” she said in the release.

Her mom didn’t believe her, though.

“Even when I called my mom this morning and told her I had been emotional, she goes, ‘Why? Because it wasn’t real?’” Cruz told lottery officials while claiming her prize on March 6. “I said, ‘It is real! It’s hitting me now!’”

Cruz and her fiancé haven’t decided how to spend the winnings, according to the release.

“Stuff like this doesn’t happen in our family, so it’s nice,” she said. “I know this is going to be just something to make our life better and feel free to do things that we weren’t able to do before.”

This story was originally published March 7, 2023 at 2:34 PM with the headline "Woman wins big Iowa Lottery prize — and makes 3:30 a.m. calls to share exciting news."