Lottery player enjoyed nice weather scratching tickets – then came big prize
A man from Iowa was left in disbelief after seeing how much he won on a scratch-off lottery ticket.
Michael Belk was sitting outside enjoying the nice, sunny weather with his wife, according to an Oct. 20 news release from the Iowa Lottery.
“I live in McCausland, we’ve got a nice bar and a little outdoor patio and we were sitting there, scratching tickets in the afternoon and just kind of relaxing, enjoying the nice weather,” he told lottery officials.
Then, Belk realized he won a prize on one of the tickets. He thought it was $25, until he checked the lottery app.
“It said $50,000. I looked and thought, ‘Oh, I missed a few letters!’” Belk said. “She couldn’t believe it. I didn’t believe it, but I said, ‘The phone’s never lied when we had other winners, so I gotta believe it’s good.’”
Belk said he and his wife were both stunned after winning the $50,000 Super Crossword scratch game’s 90th top prize.
Belk said they plan to save the money for now.
“We don’t have any big-ticket things,” he said. “We’re both retired now so we’re just going to use it to enjoy retirement.”
McCausland is about a 75-mile drive east from Cedar Rapids.
This story was originally published October 21, 2025 at 5:09 PM with the headline "Lottery player enjoyed nice weather scratching tickets – then came big prize."
