Central Iowa Man Claims Prize Of $25,000 A Year For Life

A central Iowa man admits he had no idea he was a big lottery winner for a couple weeks because he hadn’t checked his ticket yet.

Michael “Micky” Pietz of Adel claimed a prize of $25,000 a year for life on Thursday in the Lucky for Life® game. As he talked with officials at lottery headquarters in Clive, he recalled that he had a few tickets in his wallet by the time he decided to check their results.

Pietz, 37, who works in the gas and utilities industry, said he was using a self-checker at a local store and didn’t notice at first the amount that it displayed for one of the tickets.

“I was talking with the clerk and not overly paying attention,” he said. “I scanned it and he’s like, ‘Wait a minute, what did that say?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know, probably something like $10.’ And I scanned it again and I thought, ‘That can’t be right.’ And I scanned it again and then I had him scan it.”

Still in disbelief, Pietz said he went home and asked his wife to scan the ticket using the lottery’s mobile app. All the results showed a ticket winning a prize of $25,000 a year for life.  

Pietz won his prize in the Oct. 13 drawing of the Lucky for Life game.  He is Iowa’s 12th big winner in the game since it debuted here in January 2016.         
 
Lucky for Life is a $2 game with drawings each night. Its top two prize levels are described as “lasting as long as you do,” meaning that they are truly for life. The minimum guaranteed payout for those two prize levels is 20 years, and there is a lump-sum option for players who prefer that rather than lifetime annuity payments.

Pietz chose to receive his prize in a lump-sum payment of $390,000. He said that he and his wife planned to use the winnings to pay off debt, invest for their future, and establish educational accounts for their four children.

The winning numbers in the Oct. 13 drawing of Lucky for Life were: 13-16-18-23-33 and Lucky Ball 17. Pietz’s easy-pick ticket matched the first five numbers but missed the Lucky Ball to win the game’s second prize of $25,000 a year for life.

He bought his winning ticket at Kum & Go, 409 Nile Kinnick Drive S. in Adel. Kum & Go will receive a $500 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the winning ticket.

With his own story in mind, Pietz has advice for other winners checking the results of their tickets.

“Pay attention to them,” he said with a smile.  

Comments

[Mary Neubauer]

All good thoughts, Kevin! I loved Micky's "public service announcement" about checking your tickets. It DOES matter! :)

[Kevin Pidima]

Way to Go Micky!! The fun part of playing lotto is checking your tickets to see if you have won. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm always amazed that some big winners go unclaimed?
Glad to claimed your big winner Micky!! ENJOY!!