Cincinnati man wins $11K in lotto

Ottumwa Courier
 
Super Slots

CLIVE — A southern Iowa man who claimed a lottery prize of more than $11,000 said his wife predicted the big win.

Wesley Bradley, 51, of Cincinnati, won a Jumbo Bucks Progressive InstaPlay jackpot prize of $11,529.95. He had won several small prizes throughout the day and used the winnings from each ticket to buy another.

After his latest win, Bradley, who was out of town on a work assignment, called his wife, Tiffany, to tell her of his modest win streak.

“My wife told me, ‘You’re going to win the big one today,’” Bradley recalled with a laugh on Friday as he claimed his prize at lottery headquarters in Clive. “I turned around and cashed that one in and ended up winning the big one.”

The Jumbo Bucks Progressive jackpot starts at $5,000 and increases with each ticket sold statewide until it is won. Bradley bought a pair of tickets at Casey’s, 504 W. Mary St. in Ottumwa. The first ticket was the big winner, and after he saw the jackpot had reset on the second ticket, he knew he’d won.

“I just couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I took a picture of it and sent it to my wife,” he said. “She called me up, crying. She’s like, ‘I can’t believe it! I knew it!”

Bradley said he plans to use part of his winnings for Christmas gifts and share some with family.

“We’ll have a great Christmas,” he said.

InstaPlay games combine features from instant-scratch and lotto games to give players an option with no numbers to pick, playslips to fill out or wait for a drawing. InstaPlay tickets are known as "scratchless" because they have no security coating that needs to be removed to determine the prize won. The tickets are printed on demand from the lottery terminal.