Flustered Iowa Lottery winner leaves his ticket behind

Kevin Frey from New Hampton was so overwhelmed when he realized he'd won a $500,000 prize by playing the $500,000 Ca$h instant-win game that he left his winning ticket behind at Casey's, 615 N. Linn Ave. in New Hampton, where he purchased the ticket.

In an interview with the Iowa Lottery, Kevin said:

I was so excited and flustered that I left the ticket inside of Casey's store and went out to the car and started calling everybody, calling my wife at first and everybody else.

Kevin realized he'd left his winner behind when one of his adult children asked him to send them a picture of the ticket.

Fortunately, I was still in the parking lot of the Casey's store, and I ran back inside and asked the employee for the ticket.

Kevin, a 64-year-old pastor, said that the reason his son asked to see a picture of the winning ticket was that he was used to his father telling “some pretty good tales.” So Kevin knew he wouldn't believe the win was true until he saw a picture of the ticket. When he did, he was really excited, too.

Kevin said that prior to his win, he and his wife had discussed moving to Des Moines to be closer to their family. This lottery prize will now help them do just that and also help with long-term investments.

“This is going to help a lot. This is exciting in that way, too,” Kevin said. “It will be fun to be able to share some of it with some of our family and some of the charities that we support and have supported for a long time.”

How to play $500,000 Ca$h instant-win

This is a $50 instant-win game with a top prize of $500,000. It was launched in April 2023. You can win up to 33 times on each ticket. To play, scratch off the eight silver start symbols to reveal your numbers. Then, remove the 30 silver dollar symbols to reveal the winning numbers. If any of your numbers match the winning numbers, you win the prize amount shown by that number. If you reveal a 2X, 5X, 10X, 20X, or 50X symbol, you can multiply your prize by that amount. Next, remove the Bonus $50, Bonus $100, and Bonus $200 boxes. If you reveal a sack of cash symbol in any of the boxes, you automatically win the amount shown in that box. The prize range for this game is $50, $100, $150, $200, $500, $1,000, $5,000, $25,000, and $500,000. 

How the lottery helps Iowa veterans

Since 2008, a percentage of the Iowa Lottery proceeds have been donated to the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund (IVTF) to support veterans and their families throughout the state. The Hawkeye State currently provides $2.5 million each year to the IVTF.