Disbelief is the most common word used to express the way a person feels after they have discovered they have won the lottery. It is actually so common that it can be diagnosed as a lottery winning syndrome. If you take into consideration what it takes to win, that is, the odds to win which are usually quite astronomical, this reaction is more than justified. That, added to the impact of the news of a win at the most unexpected moment is enough to knock anyone off their balance at any given time of the day. Mega lottery

A Spencer woman was in such shock over her $50,000 win playing the lottery’s “Holiday Bonus Crossword” instant-scratch game, she didn’t even believe the clerk who told her she’d won. To win this $5 Scratch Off ticket’s first prize you need to scratch the “Your Letters” then scratch the corresponding letters found in Puzzles 1 and 2 and the “Bonus Word.” If you have scratched at least three complete words in Puzzle 1 or 2, you win the corresponding prize shown in the prize legend for that puzzle. Uncover all six letters in the “Bonus Word” by scratching the letters that match the “Your Letters” and win the prize shown in the prize box. Powerball lottery

Pam Stevens, 50, said she thought she had only found nine words on her ticket, not the 10 needed to win a top prize.

“They said I needed to go to the office, that I had won $50,000,” Stevens said. “And I said, ‘Run it again.’ I thought he was messing with me!”

The first person Stevens told was her twin sister, Tammy. Then she called her tax man, who also happens to be her husband, Sid.

“He thought I was bluffing him,” Stevens said.

Stevens, who is a machinist, said she still didn’t believe how much she’d won until she claimed her prize Monday at the Iowa Lottery’s regional office in Storm Lake. Of course at the moment that you hold a huge check with your hands and you are photographed that is the antidote towards this lottery syndrome. That and actually seeing that the money is in your bank account and being able to physically touch it and make use of it.

“Tammy was happy for me,” she said. “She said, ‘Get down to that office and make sure you’ve won it!’”

Stevens said she plans to use some of her winnings to pay bills and plans to save the rest. She purchased her winning ticket at Crossroads, 1001 S. Grand Ave. in Spencer.

First there is disbelief, then awe and when lottery winners wake up from this cloud of uncertainty and open up their eyes holding a big fat check, what remains is happiness. If this is a disease, who would not want it ?