Iowa woman wins $100K lottery for the second time in 2 years

An Iowa woman has now won two $100,000 lottery prizes in a little more than two years.

Mary Starks' latest $100,000 prize came in the Iowa Lottery's "Hit It Big!" scratch game. She claimed the first top prize available in that game.

"It was exciting and kind of scary and unbelievable," said Starks, who also won a $100,000 prize in March 2020 in a different scratch game. "Really unbelievable to have it happen twice."

Starks bought her winning Hit It Big! ticket at ExpressLane in Davenport. She said she usually plays Crossword tickets, but decided to try something new.

"You just think that you'll win a little bit maybe, $20, $30, $50, $100, you know? But not $100,000," she told officials as she claimed her prize. "You just buy the tickets for a little entertainment. And then when you scratch it off and get that amount of money? I don't know, it's exciting."

Starks said she plans to use her winnings to pay off debt and maybe start a business.