Iowa man wins $500,000 lottery prize on his way to a party

Dec. 10 (UPI) -- An Iowa man made a stop on the way to a friend's birthday party and ended up winning a $500,000 lottery prize.

Cedar Rapids resident David Smutz told Iowa Lottery officials he and his wife were on their way to a birthday party when he bought a Mega Bucks scratch-off ticket from the Hy-Vee Drugstore on Johnson Avenue in Cedar Rapids.

Smutz scratched the ticket off while his wife was driving.

"I was sitting over in the passenger seat and I was scratching away and all of a sudden I went, 'Oh, my,'" Smutz recalled. "She looked and goes, 'That's not real!' And I said, 'No, it's real!'"

The ticket was a $500,000 top prize winner. Smutz joked that the ticket made him more popular at the party than the friend who was being celebrated.

"It was old pop here," he joked. "I hit $500,000 and they were all my buddies all of a sudden."

Smutz said he plans to use his winnings to buy a new car and travel with his wife.

"We'll see if I want to travel a little farther now," he said.