Nurse’s Lottery Win Went From Exciting To ‘Life-Changing’ — But Here’s Why Playing The Odds Still Makes A Bad Investment
- An Iowa woman won $300,000 with a ticket she bought on her lunch break
- It took a while before travel nurse Renae Beeck passed on that she had won a lot
- The expected value of a $30 ticket was $22.38, making it a very bad investment
A travel nurse in Iowa described how, as she scratched off the letters on her lottery ticket, she couldn’t believe how the size of her winnings kept increasing.
When Renae Beeck, 39, started scratching the card, she excitedly thought she’d won $1,000, but it slowly dawned on her that she’d actually won a “life-changing” $300,000.
Beeck purchased the $30 ticket, dubbed the “Colossal Crossword” by Iowa Lottery, from an Iowa gas station about 20 miles southeast of Omaha, Nebraska.
The overall odds of Colossal Crossword are 1 in 2.29. Since the ticket costs $30, the expected value is about $22.38, making it an extremely bad investment.
“I’m like, “Oh, I think I won $1,000!” And I was so excited,” she told Iowa Lottery employees as she collected her winnings on Monday.
Renae Beeck, 39, won $300,000 on a lottery ticket she bought at a gas station on her lunch break
According to the Iowa lottery, the odds of winning $300,000 are 1 in 125,911. The overall odds in Colossal Crossword are 1 in 2.29. Since the ticket costs $30, the expected value is $22.38, making it an extremely bad investment
For every $30 ticket sold, the Iowa Lottery makes about $8 in profit – not including the cost of running the lottery. Each ticket therefore has an expected value to the buyer of approximately $22
Then I thought, “I think I won $10,000!” I counted them and I think I probably counted them a hundred times. Then I said, ‘No, I won $300,000!’” she said.
The premise of the Colossal Crossword scratch game is for the player to scratch off specific letters on the card in hopes of revealing full words – the more words revealed, the bigger the win.
According to the Iowa Lottery, the odds of winning $300,000 are 1 in 125,911.
A DailyMail.com analysis of Colossal Crossword using data from Iowa Lottery indicated that it earns about $7.62 from each player – not including the cost of running the game.
Beeck revealed that the most she had previously earned playing the game was around $200.
To make sure she didn’t get too excited, she scanned her ticket with the Iowa Lottery mobile app, which confirmed the $300,000 win. Then she called her husband, Nick, to break the news.
Pictured is a Casey gas station in rural Iowa where Beech’s winning scratch card was purchased
Beech, of Hinton, Iowa, about 120 miles north of where the scratch card was purchased, said she would spend the first portion of her winnings on a vacation to something like Hawaii.
She bought the winning ticket on her lunch break at a Casey’s gas station at 601 South Locust Street in Glenwood.
“It’s just a feeling of shock,” she told lottery officials at the Clive headquarters.
“I think your mind just goes blank, you’re so excited,” she said. “This is a life-changing amount for me, so I was very happy.”