Lottery player assumed she ‘just won another $5.’ But the zeros kept on coming

A $5 lottery win isn’t much to write home about, but Kathryn Borden could have at least earned back her money from the ticket she purchased.

Instead, the Des Moines lottery player kept scratching her ticket — uncovering a small fortune.

Borden won a $50,000 Iowa Lottery jackpot playing the Monopoly 20X scratch-off game, the lottery said in a news release.

The $50,000 prize is much more than she initially thought she won.

“I was scratching how much I won, and I was thinking, ‘Oh, I just won another $5,’” Borden told lottery officials. “Then I kept scratching and more zeros came!’”

When she was done scratching off the ticket, she revealed she had won the second top prize in the Monopoly game. The game costs $5 to play, and the odds of winning the jackpot prize are 1-in-125,790.

“I just sat there for 15 seconds,” Borden said. “I rubbed my eyes a couple times to make sure I was seeing what I saw, and then I told my kids, ‘You guys, I think I just won $50,000!’”

Borden said she plans to use her winnings to pay off debt and buy a vehicle.

This story was originally published April 8, 2024 at 3:23 PM with the headline "Lottery player assumed she ‘just won another $5.’ But the zeros kept on coming."