Monticello woman wins $30,000 in scratch game

     A Jones County woman said her local lottery retailer was sold out of her favorite scratch game, so she had to buy a different game.

     It all worked out in the end for Jane Schwartz of Monticello, as she claimed the sixth of eight top prizes of $30,000 available in the Iowa Lottery’s “Block-O” scratch game.

     Schwartz, 54, said she normally plays the lottery’s “Bonus Crossword” game, but Karde’s C-Store in Monticello was out of that game so she decided to try the Block-O, which was right next to it.

     She said she scratched off her ticket at home that night and had to wake up her husband, Steve, when she found out she’d won.

     “I didn’t really go crazy, like loud crazy,” Schwartz told lottery employees as she claimed her prize at the lottery’s regional office in Cedar Rapids. “My husband was sleeping so I went back to the bedroom and I’m like, ‘Hey, we just won $30,000!’ And he’s like, “What?’”

     As a regular scratch ticket player, Schwartz said she expected to see something else when she scratched off the prize amount on her winning ticket.

     “I thought, ‘Oh, it will be another $3 because that’s typically what I win, $3,’” she said.

     Schwartz, who works at a preschool in Monticello, said she plans to use a portion of her winnings for home improvements and save some for a trip next spring.