A central Iowa man won the top prize of $500,000 in front of a huge crowd watching the live lottery game show tonight at the Iowa State Fair!
Steven “Jack” Stout of Indianola, the game show finalist, had a chance to win up to $5 million and came close to it. But he ultimately uncovered the game pieces in the show’s final round to win $500,000. He said it didn’t seem real.
Jack said that from the beginning, he could hardly believe he got a chance to be on the game show. He admitted he got pretty shaky as the show progressed and it became clear he’d win a big prize.
Jack said he doesn’t have firm plans for his winnings, but he may buy a house.
Nineteen other contestants on the game show won prizes ranging from $10,000 up to $100,000, and the Iowa Lottery also awarded three sizeable prizes to audience members watching the show on the 2024 State Fair’s opening day.
What Led Up To The Game Show
The game show was the finale of a summer-long initiative from the Iowa Lottery and the Iowa State Fair, which included the first scratch game named for the State Fair, Iowa’s largest event.
Players who didn’t win instant prizes on their Iowa State Fair scratch tickets could enter them into the lottery’s Fair Fever promotion for a chance to be one of the 20 game show contestants or win concert-ticket prize packages for the Iowa State Fair Grandstand. Lottery players made more than 67,000 entries into the promotion from mid-April through mid-July.
Here are the prizes won by the 19 other contestants on the lottery game show:
| 1. Craig Bergman of Cedar Rapids, $10,000 | 11. Jolene Murray of Cedar Rapids, $15,000 |
| 2. Michelle Cerwinske of Nashua, $25,000 | 12. Mary Olin of Des Moines, $100,000 |
| 3. Margo Fox of Johnston, $50,000 | 13. Dawn Petersen of Colfax, $10,000 |
| 4. Kristine Frye of Des Moines, $10,000 | 14. Timothy Roberts of Ottumwa, $15,000 |
| 5. Nicole Gulick of Des Moines, $25,000 | 15. Scott Stewart of Waterloo, $25,000 |
| 6. Ryan Habeger of Algona, $10,000 | 16. Christine Tatman of Orange City, $10,000 |
| 7. Gerald Johnson of Iowa City, $75,000 | 17. Rodney Tucker of Des Moines, $15,000 |
| 8. Gerald Kennicker of Dubuque, $10,000 | 18. Jeff Weiland of Dubuque, $25,000 |
| 9. Tamara McMahon of Council Bluffs, $20,000 | 19. David Wesley of Des Moines, $25,000 |
| 10. Steven Moore of Urbandale, $25,000 |
In addition, the Iowa Lottery gave three prizes to audience members at the show.
- Lori Wellman of West Des Moines won a $5,000 audience-member prize.
- Karen Bowder of Pocahontas won a $5,000 audience-member prize.
- Mary Little of Brooklyn won a $50,000 audience-member prize.
This is why the scratch tickets are all duds, unless you live in Cedar Rapids, then you have a better chance to win. If you live in western Iowa, we get all of the duds
Posted by: Mike Ingram | August 10, 2024 at 12:34 AM