Lucky Iowa Man Wins Second Massive Lottery Prize Of 2024

We found 2024's luckiest person in Iowa. He lives in eastern Iowa and he has won a second-level top prize and now a top prize from the Iowa Lottery.

In total, this man has collected $110,000 in prizes (that we know of) from the Iowa Lottery. He could have won some smaller prizes, but we know he has won six figures worth of money.

Who is Iowa's luckiest person for 2024? Meet James Mart. He's from Cedar Rapids and he just won again with the Iowa Lottery.

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Cedar Rapids Man Is The Luckiest Person In Iowa

"It's a nice, warm feeling," James Mart of Cedar Rapids told Iowa Lottery officials on Monday as he claimed his $100,000 prize at the lottery's Cedar Rapids regional office. It's his second big Iowa Lottery win in a few short months.

Mart, 68, won a top prize in the Iowa Lottery's "Word Search" InstaPlay game. He said his latest win was even more shocking than his first. "It's kind of like, 'No! Those zeros must be in the wrong place! I didn't win $100,000!'" Mart said with a laugh.

With his $100,000 winnings, Mart said he plans to donate some of his winnings to a local animal rescue. He and his family have adopted two dogs and three cats from a local shelter. He bought his lucky ticket at Hy-Vee Drugstore, 505 Boyson Road NE in Cedar Rapids, and immediately scanned it on the store's self-checker. That's the same place he bought his first big winning ticket in July.

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Iowa's Luckiest Man's First Win Of 2024

Mart also cashed in on a big chunk of change earlier this year in July.

"I'm still kind of overwhelmed," James Mart told Iowa Lottery officials back on July 8th as he claimed his prize at the lottery's Cedar Rapids regional office. "The most I won before was $1,000 and I thought that was great. And then when this one said, $10,000, it was like, 'Wow!'"

Mart, 67 then, won the first prize of $10,000 in the Iowa Lottery's "Beat the Heat" scratch game. As we know, James bought his winning ticket at Hy-Vee Drugstore, 505 Boyson Road NE in Cedar Rapids, and scanned the ticket on the store's self-checker.

"I took off my glasses to look at it: 'That can't be right!'" Mart recalled with a laugh. So I cleared the screen and checked it again and it still said $10,000." Thinking the scanner was malfunctioning, he took his ticket to another retailer, where another scan revealed the same prize amount.

Mart said back in July that he planned to save most of his winnings and set some aside for a vacation this fall.

Looks like with that extra $100,000 now, he can go back on vacation too. Congrats, James.