DES MOINES, Iowa — A Des Moines man has won the first top prize in the Iowa Lottery game "Lucky For Life."
Shelby Willis, 64, won the multi-state game after buying his winning ticket at QuikTrip at 1501 E. Grand Ave. in Des Moines.
The gas station will receive a $5,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.
"This is important. This is going to change things for myself, my children and my grandchildren," Willis said in a news release. "So I've got to do it right."
Although the prize is listed as $1,000 a day, Willis chose the option of receiving a one-time lump sum of $5.75 million, which he said is better for the stage of life he is in. After cashing in his ticket, he said he immediately retired from a security business he spent years working at.
"It's instant retirement, if you want to call it that," he said.
Willis was born in Iowa, but spent most of his life on the East Coast where his daughters and brother live now. He returned to Iowa 12 years ago to take care of his father who was in poor health, and now he would like to head back to the coast, specifically New Jersey, to be closer to family.
After moving back to the coast, he does have one thing he'd really like to buy with his winnings.
"Get some Yankee tickets when I get back, I'm definitely going to do that," he said. "I've been a fan since the 1970s!"
After scanning his winning ticket at QuikTrip, Willis returned home and stashed it in his mother's Bible for safekeeping until he could go cash out.
Wills already has an appointment with a financial planner and is following his family's advice on being careful with his winnings.
"I can relax a little bit now. I don't have to be so concerned with finances," he said. "And I'll be able to afford a few little trinkets here and there for myself and my grandkids, maybe go on a cruise or something. I've never done that before, I'd like to do that."
Lucky for Life is a $2 game with drawings nightly that is sold by 23 different U.S. lotteries.
Willis' win marks the 22nd in Iowa since Lucky for Life debuted in the state in 2016.
