Marion man wins $100,000 lottery prize

DES MOINES, Iowa – A Marion man decided to try the Iowa Lottery's new “Red Hot Cherries” instant-scratch game and ended up winning the very first top prize of $100,000.

Andrew Kemmerer, 42, said he stopped into the Hy-Vee Gas Station at 3935 Blairs Ferry Road in Cedar Rapids when he saw the new ticket.

“I was just scratching it and I was like, ‘That's not right. No,'” Kemmerer said.

Kemmerer said he couldn't believe what he was seeing so he thought about going out to the car to retrieve his glasses, but then decided to have the clerk validate the ticket for him.

“I said, ‘Just run it through that machine and see what happens' and it kicked out this little thing!” he said.

Kemmerer said everyone who was in the store at the time was ecstatic.

"They just couldn't believe it,” he said.

Kemmerer said he's also told his parents as well as other friends and family about his win.

“[My parents] were screaming,” Kemmerer said.

Kemmerer, who is a manager at Hy-Vee in Cedar Rapids, said he plans to use some of his winnings to pay off his student loans.

Kemmerer claimed his prize Jan. 19 at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids.

Red Hot Cherries is a $10 scratch game. Players try to get three like symbols in the same “pull” to win the prize shown for that pull. If they get two like symbols and a “7” symbol in the same pull, they win double the prize shown for that pull. If players get two like symbols and a “coin” symbol in the same pull, they win triple the prize shown for that pull. In the left Bonus area, players who find a “cherry” symbol win $25 instantly. In the right Bonus area, players who find a “hot” symbol win $50 instantly. The overall odds of winning a prize in the game are 1 in 3.30.

Seven top prizes of $100,000 are left in Red Hot Cherries, as well as eight prizes of $10,000, more than 270 prizes of $1,000, and several thousand prizes of $300 and $100.

Since the lottery's start in 1985, its players have won more than $2.6 billion in prizes while the lottery has raised more than $1.2 billion for the state programs that benefit all Iowans.

Today, lottery proceeds in Iowa have three main purposes: They provide support for veterans, help for a variety of significant projects through the state General Fund, and backing for the Vision Iowa program, which was implemented to create tourism destinations and community attractions in the state and build and repair schools.