Lottery player asks son to verify ticket — then drops to her knees. ‘I was shaking’

A lottery player was overcome with emotion after winning a jackpot prize, but first she needed some help verifying what she was seeing.

Coletta Whennen of Newton asked for her son’s help after scratching off her $50,000 Super Crossword scratch-off ticket, the Iowa Lottery said in a Feb. 25 news release.

“I’m like, ‘Count these words with me, make sure I’m counting the right amount of words,’” Whennen said. “Finally we got one of our cellphones to work to check the app, and bam!”

What they both saw caused her to drop to her knees, she told lottery officials.

Whennen had won the game’s jackpot prize of $50,000, beating odds of 1 in 120,790.65.

“I screamed. I was shaking,” she told lottery officials. “I think I overexerted myself by screaming!”

With her winnings, Whennen plans to make mortgage payments and go on a weekend getaway.

Newton is about a 35-mile drive northeast from Des Moines.

This story was originally published February 25, 2025 at 3:19 PM with the headline "Lottery player asks son to verify ticket — then drops to her knees. ‘I was shaking’."