CLIVE, Iowa — A Pottawattamie County woman who won a $300,000 prize playing the lottery said she knew she had a winning ticket, but she was way off on the prize amount.

That’s 66-year-old Patricia “Patty” Weihs, of Walnut, who claimed her prize at lottery headquarters in Clive. Weihs won the seventh top prize in the Iowa Lottery’s “Ruby Red Crossword” scratch game. She bought her winning ticket at Yesway, 2101 Antique City Drive in Walnut.

Patty Weihs, from Walnut won $300k in an IA Lottery scratch ticket game. (Photo & audio courtesy of the Iowa Lottery)

She took her ticket back to the store where it was purchased from the next morning, and handed it to an employee to claim what she thought was a $300 prize. The clerk checked and told Weihs, he couldn’t pay her.

“He showed me this slip, and I saw this 3 with all these zeros after it,” she said. “I didn’t know what to say. I mean, what could you say? It’s like you’re mind-blown.” Weihs, a server at a local restaurant, said she plans to be wise when it comes to how she uses her winnings.

Ruby Red Crossword is a $30 scratch game that features 16 top prizes of $300,000, 47 prizes of $10,000 and overall odds of 1 in 2.29.