CLIVE, IA, – “A Davenport woman quickly found a use for her improved eyesight after having Lasik vision-correction surgery last week: She double-checked the lottery ticket her husband bought to confirm that they had indeed won a prize of $25,000 a year for life.”
Ray and Delena Eckstein live in Davenport and neither could believe their luck.
“I spun it around to my wife and had her double-check it because she’s got good eyes now!” Ray said as they both laughed. Delena Eckstein said she told him he was right — and then they had to wait through the long Labor Day holiday weekend before claiming their prize Tuesday at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive.
Ray is 58 and retired earlier this year after working in maintenance in the Quad-Cities area, and Delena, who works as a human-resources consultant, said they plan to put their winnings into retirement savings. Ray said the additional infusion into their retirement accounts will make things easier.
The couple said they need a new lawnmower and home furnace. The couple splurged in 2017 and bought a new Harley-Davidson motorcycle, so Ray admitted he might get some additional accessories for it. Delena added that she’d like a new cup holder for the bike.
The Ecksteins won Iowa’s fifth biggest prize in Lucky for Life since the lotto game debuted in January 2016.
Their ticket matched the first five numbers but missed the Lucky Ball in Thursday night’s drawing to win the game’s second prize of $25,000 a year for life. Ray Eckstein bought their ticket at the Kwik Shop convenience store, 3624 W. Locust St. in Davenport.
Lucky for Life is a $2 game with drawings twice a week, at 9:38 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays. The game’s top two prize levels are described as “lasting as long as you do,” meaning that they are truly for life. The minimum guaranteed payout for those two prize levels is 20 years, and there is a lump-sum option for players who would prefer that rather than lifetime annuity payments.
The odds of winning Lucky for Life’s top prize are about 1 in 30.8 million, as compared to odds of about 1 in 292.2 million of winning the Powerball® jackpot; and odds of about 1 in 302.6 million of winning the Mega Millions® jackpot.
The couple chose to receive a lump sum which after taxes amounted to $390,000
