Ever since a northwest Iowa man won a prize of $100,000 a year for life, the congratulations haven’t stopped coming — and neither have the celebrations at the two western Iowa bars he owns.
“All the texts I got, all the phone calls I got, all the messages I got — I can’t return them all,” Doug Dearborn said with a laugh Tuesday afternoon as he claimed his prize at the lottery’s main office in Clive.
Dearborn, 61, of Lohrville, became Iowa’s first big winner in the Millionaire for Life™ game. His lucky ticket matched all five white balls in Friday’s drawing to win at the game’s second prize level of $100,000 a year for life. It was the first Match-5 prize won nationwide since the game’s start in February.
Looking to quench a craving for a cream soda, Dearborn stopped at Brew, 210 W. Main St. in Sac City. He also purchased a Millionaire for Life ticket with four quick-pick plays on it.
The morning after the drawing, he stopped by a different retailer to check his ticket on the store’s self-checker. He scanned it a second time and asked an employee to verify what he was seeing, then a third time, just to be sure.
“I looked around and went, ‘WOOO!’” Dearborn recalled. “I think the whole store heard me. I’d say it was a dead giveaway I won something.”
The winning numbers in Friday’s drawing were 14-16-21-43-51 and Millionaire Ball™ 3. Dearborn chose to receive his prize in its lump-sum option of $2.2 million. He plans to invest the bulk of his winnings for retirement, but isn’t ruling out a new vehicle purchase and a vacation.
Millionaire for Life offers the highest daily jackpot in lottery history with the best odds of any major draw game. Players choose five numbers from a pool of 58 for the white balls and one out of five numbers for the Millionaire Ball. They can win the game’s top prize of $1 million a year for life by matching all six numbers selected in one of its drawings. The game’s second prize — for matching the first five numbers but missing the Millionaire Ball — is $100,000 a year for life. Other prize levels in the game range from $8 up to $7,500.
For more information about Millionaire for Life, visit ialottery.com.
