CLIVE, Iowa — A southwest Iowa man has now won two big lottery prizes in two years.
On Friday, Delbert Littleton of Atlantic claimed the first of eight top prizes of $100,000 available in the “Power 10X” scratch game. In June 2020, he had won a prize of $25,000 a year for life in the Lucky for Life lotto game, and chose to receive his winnings in the lump-sum option of $390,000.
As with his first win, Littleton said he was in his kitchen when he realized this week that he’d hit big.
“It kind of took my breath away,” he said. “My heart started racing. I went into the living room and had to sit down for a second. And once I collected my thoughts, I went ahead and called my wife on the phone. And I had to pull the phone away from my ear because she yelled as soon as I told her!”
When he realized he won big in 2020, Littleton said he and his wife danced for joy in the kitchen. This time, he startled their dog a bit.
“He probably thought I was crazy because I was just running around,” Littleton said. “He got up real quick and his ears perked up and he just looked at me. He probably thought something was wrong.”
Littleton, 64, who works at an assisted-living facility, said he bought some tickets in the Power 10X game because it was new. He ended up with three winning tickets in a row: A $20 winner that he redeemed for two more tickets in the game. One of those was a $10 winner and the other won a $100,000 prize.
Power 10X is a $10 scratch game that just began sales on April 5. Its tickets feature green-and-yellow graphics of arcing electricity. Prizes in the game range from $10 up to $100,000. Littleton bought his $100,000-winning ticket at Murphy USA, 1903 E. Seventh St. in Atlantic.
After his 2020 win, Littleton said that he and his wife, Jodi, followed through on their plans to buy a new house and get new vehicles. With this win, he has concrete plans again.
“I’m getting kind of tired of doing the push mower thing,” he said “So I’m going to get a riding lawnmower. And the rest, we’re going to be able to take more in vacation this year and the rest of it, just stash it like we did the first time.”
Littleton said he considers this win “a little icing on the cake.”
“It gives me a nice perspective on retirement,” he said. “It makes the thought of retirement a little more relaxing.”