For more than a week, a Black Hawk County man knew he’d won a prize of $25,000 a year for life in the Lucky for Life game, but waited to claim his prize until he had a plan.
Joe Kapaun of Hudson says whenever a lottery jackpot gets really huge, he reads the articles that pop up about what to do if you win. And he’s taken to heart the advice that it’s smart to have a plan for the money.
So, Joe made his plan. He’s going to pay off debts, invest a big chunk of his winnings and maybe make one big “mad money” purchase: a hot tub.
Joe, who’s 67 and owns an engineering consulting firm, says a hot tub would just be a nice thing to have.
His easy-pick ticket matched the first five numbers but missed the Lucky Ball in the Lucky for Life drawing on July 24 to win the game’s second prize of $25,000 a year for life.
Joe bought his winning ticket at the Git N Go Convenience Store, 124 Wood St. in Hudson. Git N Go will receive a $500 bonus from the lottery for selling the winning ticket.
The winning numbers in the Lucky for Life drawing on July 24 were: 11-27-37-38-48 and Lucky Ball 16.
Joe said he checked his tickets the morning after the drawing while he was having some coffee and a cigar. He reviewed the numbers and then just to be sure, he scanned the lucky ticket on the Iowa Lottery’s mobile app. It showed that he had hit big!
He went inside right away to show his wife, Lola, the ticket and scan it again on the app. They both concluded it was real!
Kapaun is Iowa’s 15th big winner in the game since its January 2016 debut in our state. He’s also the second big winner in the game just this summer. In late June, a Davenport man claimed a prize of $25,000 a year for life that he won in the Lucky for Life drawing on June 27.
Kapaun chose to receive his prize in the lump-sum amount of $390,000.
He gives what may be the best answer ever when someone asks why he plays the lottery: “The chances of winning something increase in your favor when you buy a ticket.”
I’m going to borrow that one, Joe!
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