Lottery player’s favorite game was sold out, but his backup wins big. ‘Wait a minute’

A lottery player opted for a new scratch-off game when his favorite was sold out — and it was a good thing he did.

Because the Monopoly 20X scratch-off ticket purchased by Jonathan Rasler, of Princeton, Iowa, was one of the game’s jackpot winners.

“I was going to get the (Iowa) State Fair ones and they were out of them, so I said, ‘Oh, give me the MONOPOLY,’” he told Iowa Lottery officials.

It wasn’t until a few days later when Rasler, 62, scratched off his ticket, uncovering the $50,000 win.

Monopoly 20X costs $5 to play, and the odds of winning the $50,000 jackpot prize are 1 in 125,790.

“I was like, ‘Wait a minute, there’s way too many zeroes there!’” Rasler told lottery officials. “I looked at it and looked at it, and then I read the top again about how you can win. I must’ve read that three times, and then I went back and went, ‘Man, I can’t believe this. That’s $50,000!’”

With his winnings, Rasler said he plans on investing and paying off the loan on his utility vehicle.

Princeton is about a 90-mile drive southeast of Cedar Rapids.

This story was originally published May 9, 2024 at 2:55 PM with the headline "Lottery player’s favorite game was sold out, but his backup wins big. ‘Wait a minute’."