Aurelia man scores big lottery payoff

DES MOINES – An Aurelia man is $455,000 richer today thanks to his good luck playing a state lottery scratch game.

Robert Stewart II, 41, who manages a Game Stop business in Storm Lake, said he stopped by a Storm Lake convenience store after dropping his wife off at work this morning and bought the store's last “Lifetime Riches” instant scratch game.

The $20 investment carried a big payoff when he scratched a matching number with a top prize of $40,000 a year for 25 years – making him the Iowa Lottery's seventh winner this year.

Stewart returned to the auto-parts store where his wife, Deb, works to inform her of their good fortune and managed to get his wife the rest of the day off while they drove to Storm Lake to verify the ticket as a winner and then traveled to Des Moines to collect their oversized check for $455,000 after taxes as a lump-sum award.

"The state tax was more than I make in a year,” said Stewart, who still was a bit overwhelmed with his new-found fortune at lottery headquarters Thursday afternoon. “I'm still trying to come to grips with it. It still doesn't seem real to me.”

The Aurelia couple was joined by their son, Rory, 16, a Storm Lake High School student, in making the victory trip to Des Moines. Their daughter, Amanda, 18, couldn't make the trip because she had a previous commitment since joining the Marines.

Stewart said the most he previously won playing the Iowa Lottery since moving to Cherokee County from Lincoln, Neb., in July 2006, was a $480 prize and two $1,000 winners.

He said he plans to pay off his mortgage and student loans, upgrade the family vehicle and put the rest in the bank while he consults a financial adviser to determine what to do with the rest of his winnings.

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