Officials with the Iowa Lottery say a Harlan woman won $30,000 in an instant scratch game after buying a ticket for her husband’s birthday. Misty Robertson, accompanied by her husband, Eddy, claimed their jackpot prize off the Iowa Lottery’s Crossword scratch game. It was the 58th of 97 top prizes for the Crossword game.

The 34 year old Robertson told the lottery her husband enjoys playing the scratch tickets on his birthday. They ended up buying only 2 tickets, with the first being the $30,000 winner and the 2nd a $3 winner. Eddy Petersen said at first they thought they won $3,000 but his wife showed him there were more letters and called the whole experience very emotional. The couple took a few days to get everything together before claiming there prize. As Misty said, they didn’t want to go crazy with it.

Robertson claimed her winnings last Thursday at the Iowa Lottery headquarters in Des Moines. She purchased her winning ticket at the Country Store 618 Durant Street in Harlan. She said they will use the money to fix up the house, buy a car and save some back.

Thirty nine top prizes of $30,000 are still up for grabs in Crossword, along with sixty-one $3,000 prizes. Since the lottery’s start in 1985, players have won more than $3.1 billion in prizes while the lottery has raised more than $1.4 billion for the state programs that benefit all Iowans.