Third-shift worker couldn’t believe his eyes at 3 a.m. He won big Iowa lottery prize

After Stephen “Steve” Snyder got off of work, he headed to a Casey’s convenience store for a snack and an Iowa lottery ticket.

The 46-year-old Marshalltown man decided on a “Lucky 7 Bonus” scratch ticket, according to an April 24 news release from the Iowa Lottery.

As he began scratching his ticket, he realized he might have won the game’s top prize.

“I like, wipe my eyes, like, ‘Am I seeing everything?’” Snyder recalled to lottery officials. “I work third shift, so it’s kind of late, 3 a.m.”

Unsure if he could believe his tired eyes, he went back inside of the Casey’s in Ankeny to scan his ticket.

Snyder had won $250,000 — the most you can win with the $20 ticket, officials said.

“You always think it would be neat (to win) and then it happens. And then it’s like, ‘This is crazy.’ Like it actually, it did happen,” he told lottery officials when claiming his prize. “Like, ‘WOW!’ It’s just dumb luck. It can happen.”

He claimed his prize on April 24, officials said, where he was presented with an oversized check.

“I’ll probably freak out on the way home, now that I have the check,” he said at the time.

Snyder plans to have some fun with his winnings — while still being a bit reasonable, too.

“I’m going to try and have it be a good thing,” he said, per the news release. “Obviously I’m going to do something stupid, I’ll be honest. Probably get a nicer car or something, set a limit. It’ll be a nice little safety umbrella for me.”

Marshalltown is about 55 miles northeast of Des Moines.

This story was originally published April 28, 2023 at 2:30 PM with the headline "Third-shift worker couldn’t believe his eyes at 3 a.m. He won big Iowa lottery prize."