Lottery winner claims biggest Lotto America prize in history
Includes video report
By Kate Northrop
CLIVE, Iowa — An Iowa man claimed the largest Lotto America jackpot in the game's history — a prize of $40.03 million.
Earl Lape, of Dubuque, is the winner of the biggest Lotto America prize ever, and despite thinking it was just an April Fool's prank, it was no joke.
On Monday, Lape was greeted with confetti, fanfare, and a warm welcome from Iowa Lottery staff upon his arrival at Lottery headquarters in Clive. Even so, the formality still did not seem to fully cement him in the reality of the win as he stepped up to the podium to speak with Mary Neubauer, the Lottery's Vice President of External Relations.
"I laughed. I thought it was April Fools," Lape told the Lottery. "I thought it was a joke."
The retired mechanic recalled the day he took his winning ticket to the retailer he purchased it from to verify it at a lottery terminal.
"I had already signed it, so I handed it to [the clerk]," the 61-year-old winner said. "She scanned it and then smiled and said, 'You are the winner!'"
Lape was indeed the sole winner of the largest Lotto America jackpot at $40 million, having matched all six numbers in the April 1 drawing. The winning numbers were 2, 38, 43, 46 and 51, with Star Ball 7. He chose to receive his prize as the $21.28 million cash option.
After federal and state tax withholdings, he will walk away with $15.1 million. Lape says he plans on investing the winnings to help his family and future generations for years to come and also wants to donate to organizations that benefit children with medical issues, such as the University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital in Iowa City and the Blanke Children's Hospital in Des Moines.
"If it weren't for our parents to show us the way, where would we be?" he explained. "That's why I want to help kids. A lot of parents don't have money and a lot of insurance companies don't cover it, but the kids still need treatment."
Lape's lucky draw follows a jackpot run starting in June 2021. Prior to the win, the biggest jackpot record for the game was $22.82 million, won by a Minnesota family in March 2018.
Lape said he enjoys playing Lotto America because it offers better odds of winning than the larger multi-state games, Powerball and Mega Millions.
"My odds are way better in that game," he told officials.
At $1 per play, Lotto America is considered Powerball's smaller cousin and offers a starting jackpot of $2 million instead of $20 million. The odds of winning the Lotto America jackpot are also better, at 1 in 25,989,600 as opposed to 1 in 292,201,338 for Powerball.
While Powerball is offered in 48 jurisdictions, Lotto America is sold by 13 different lotteries: Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
Lape's childhood best friend, Randy Davis, was the first person he told about the shocking news of his record win. The two pals were in the same boat, not quite believing the news themselves and both visiting Lottery headquarters while Lape claimed his prize.
"I just didn't believe him at first," Davis said. "I didn't believe him that Sunday night until the next morning, and I started to believe him when I started seeing some things online. And he stuck to the story, so I thought, 'Well, it might be true!'"
Lape went on to say that, before he hit the jackpot, he was in the process of buying the home of his long-time girlfriend who passed away last August. The win means that he can not only pay for the house but afford repairs and much-needed updates.
"Her sons asked me if I really wanted [the] house now, and I said, 'Yeah!'" Lape recalled.
Lape bought his jackpot-winning ticket at Eichman's, a restaurant and convenience store on U.S. Highway 52 North in Dubuque, a regular pit stop for him. The retailer will receive a $5,000 bonus from the Lottery for selling the winning ticket.
When asked if he thought the win was going to change his life, he answered, "Eh, a little bit. I'm still going to be the same person I always was."
Lotto America drawings take place every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 11:00 pm EST. Winning numbers and prize amounts can be found right after each drawing on Lottery Post's Lotto America Results page.
RAW VIDEO: Watch the press conference
It is great he won $40M and takes home $15M after taxes. He says he will give to family and charity but he says nothing about giving to his childhood best friend. Oh well...
Whenever someone wins big they are always expected to give, and the vultures come out and try to take. It's best to not know what ones intentions are. They can say anything they want, doesn't mean they'll adhere to it.
Congrats Earl ....Be cautious and enjoy for many years to come.
Congrats to the lucky guy, enjoy.
They took almost 50% of his winnings before he ever got his hands on it. I will never understand the reasoning behind punishing a player just because they would prefer to collect their winnings now instead of a 25-year annuity. I'm sure they have their reasons, but I have not heard any that makes sense yet. Congrats to Earl.
It's trickery MG. The advertised jackpot is what you win over a 25 year period. It's to Thier advantage to pay it out that way. The lump sum is what the annuity would cost for the 25 years.( Only makes sense if your young.) Majority take the cash value, half the advertised jackpot.
* Think that's dreadful MG, l read where our $2 billion lottery winner from CA ended up with a " little over 1/2 billion " take home when the dust settles. Uncle Sam put a chainsaw to Castro's winnings.
Onto the next Jackpot winner for Iowa.
They've now had three Jackpot winners in the $2 PowerBall since 2012.
Two Lotto America Jackpot winners.
But they are still yet to have Mega Millions Jackpot winner. (Maybe tonight and if only one ticket in Iowa wins this, they'll be the biggest Jackpot winner in Iowa State Lottery history)
This will help you understand better: How-to-Play/Difference-Between-Cash-Value-and-Annuity.aspx
Difference Between Cash Value and Annuity
If you win a Mega Millions® jackpot, you will choose how to be paid: Cash Option or Annual Payout. Prize claim parameters vary from state to state. Contact your Mega Millions lottery for detailed information.
Annuity option: The Mega Millions annuity is paid out as one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments. Each payment is 5% bigger than the previous one. This helps protect winners’ lifestyle and purchasing power in periods of inflation.
For a typical jackpot of $100 million, the initial payment would be about $1.5 million, and future annual payments would grow to about $6.2 million.
When the jackpot is $200 million, each payment is twice as big. When the jackpot is $50 million, each payment is half as big, etc.
Cash option: A one-time, lump-sum payment that is equal to the cash in the Mega Millions jackpot prize pool.
They don't take away anything. It wasn't there in the first place.
It's all a marketing gimmick MG.... Look on the TN lottery website, for example....
https://tnlottery.com/ The first 3 you see are PB.......MM.....LA
See anyplace on there that gives you the actual Cash Value for those 3 games ??
IMHO, President Rebecca Paul Hargrove and her minions don't even have the integrity to post the cash value....Ever look on the back of a $20 TN scratchoff ? "Paid out over 25 years".....no mention of anything else........Pay attention to this, while something else is really that..... <shoulder shrug>......It's the world we live in. Participation is voluntary. Don't like the games or rules ? ...Don't play