CLIVE, Iowa — Two central Iowa man joked that they may be the world’s tiniest lottery office pool, but they still hit big. Randy Ferriss of Nevada and Colton Snyder of Huxley on Thursday (April 20, 2023) claimed a $1 million Mega Millions^® prize they won two days earlier. The long-time employees at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Ames said they’ve pooled their money for years to play the lottery, and at different times, there were more members in the group. Ferriss, who buys their office pool tickets, said they won their $1 million prize with smaller winnings from recent tickets. He bought the $1 million-winning ticket a Casey’s, store. in Nevada. Their ticket came within one number of having a share of Tuesday’s $20 million Mega Millions jackpot, matching the first five numbers but missing the Mega Ball.

Their ticket was one of four in the country to win a $1 million prize in Tuesday’s drawing, with the others in California, Maryland and Ohio.Ferriss and Snyder are both 52 and have worked together for 26 years. Both planned to take time to decide what to do with their winnings. Ferriss said that he and his wife will probably pay off their house and then “kind of figure out where to go from there.” Snyder has some house projects in mind. The two said they plan to keep playing the lottery together in their office pool, but just this once, they won’t let their winnings keep rolling. Ferriss and Snyder claimed the third sizeable lottery prize won in Iowa this month.

On April 10, a Dubuque man claimed a $40.03 million Lotto America^® jackpot, while on April 11, a Davenport man claimed a $500,000 top prize in an Iowa Lottery scratch game.The Iowa Lottery emphasizes the importance of players checking their tickets, and two situations in central Iowa demonstrate why that matters.

The Casey’s in Nevada that sold this week’s big winner is the same store that sold a ticket winning a $1 million Powerball^® prize that expired without being claimed in April 2019. The Iowa Lottery gave players another shot at the winnings through a promotion that same year, and a group of 34 co-workers at a Cedar Rapids company ended up splitting the prize.

In addition, a $1 million Mega Millions prize won in nearby Ames has now been unclaimed for nearly eight months. That winning ticket was purchased at Gateway Expresse (also known as The Filling Station), at 2400 S. University Blvd. in Ames. It matched all five white balls but missed the Mega Ball to win at the game’s second prize level in the drawing on Sept. 6, 2022. The winner or winners of the Ames prize have until the close of business on Sept. 6, 2023, to claim it.