Marion man thanks traffic jam for winning $50,000 lottery prize

A Marion man who won $50,000 dollars in a lottery crossword game says a traffic jam is to thank for it.

53-year-old Shawn Holub bought the ticket at the Kwik Star on 1001 Blairs Ferry Road NE in Cedar Rapids.

He says he was heading home when he got into heavy traffic that prevented him from going his usual route.

That's when Holub went to Kwik Star and bought what ended up being the fifth top prize in the Iowa lottery's "$50,000 Super Crossword" scratch game.

I was coming home from work, traffic was really bad and I couldn’t get into the lane that I wanted to be in, so I just went on down the road to Kwik Star,” Holub said on Wednesday as he claimed his prize at the lottery’s Cedar Rapids regional office. “it was meant to be, I guess

Once Holub made it home he gave the ticket to his wife Paula.

She scratched off the ticket and told Holub to scan it.

Holub, who works in sales scanned the ticket and confirmed his winnings.

We didn’t know what to do,” he said. “We just kind of stood there and looked at each other.

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He says he and his wife plan to use the money toward home improvements.