For an Iowa man, a forgotten lottery ticket ended up winning an unexpected boon. His family’s luck changed for the better overnight as a lottery ticket he bought last month and completely forgot about ended up winning a whopping $100,000 prize.
Shannon Maddison, 60, from Guthrie Center, Iowa, says that he could not believe what he was seeing when the card he was scratching displayed the whopping amount.
Shannon bought the ‘Merry & Bright’ scratch card from Casey’s, 100 N. Fifth St. in Guthrie Center. The festive-themed lottery service goes live every holiday season. It costs $10 to buy one ticket. This time, the sales began in October 2025 and closed in January 2026 as the holidays ended.
A forgotten ticket turned into a big surprise! 😲
Shannon Madison of Guthrie Center scratched a “Merry & Bright” ticket he bought a month ago — and uncovered $100,000.
🎉 Congratulations to Shannon and his wife, Kathy! pic.twitter.com/B4mZNSUAaV
— Iowa Lottery (@ialottery) January 22, 2026
Shannon, who purchases lottery tickets often and has never won any significant amount before, wasn’t particularly excited to see if he won anything. He loves buying tickets but rarely scratches them at once. This time wasn’t any different.
He bought the ticket, set it aside, and nearly forgot about it for about a week. The man only hoped to get back the money he spent.
“Usually when I buy tickets, I take them home and lay them on my desk and kind of forget about them. Last Saturday, I finally got around to scratching them,” Shannon told IA Lottery.
The first ticket he scratched pulled a $50 win and he hoped to win back the $10 he spent on buying the tickets from the next one. When he saw the first $10, Shannon was relieved to know he didn’t lose any money.
However, luck had other plans. As he kept scratching, the ticket showed a number beyond his wildest imagination. “I saw the one and zero and thought, ‘Oh, I got my 10 bucks.’ Then I kept scratching, and there were more zeros. I had to stop and look,” Shannon revealed.
Meet 4 of the 45 players who’ve already won $10,000+ this year! 🔥
Could you be next? 👀🍀 pic.twitter.com/suyiwgWm2p
— Iowa Lottery (@ialottery) January 13, 2026
The first thing he did after winning the big amount? Look for his wife, who was busy on the phone, to share the good news. Shannon asked her to put down the phone. After processing the news, they both broke down in tears.
Recalling the joyous moment, Shannon revealed, “I said, ‘Tell her you’ll call her right back,’ and I said, ‘We just won $100,000!’” He kept going “We both started crying. It’s something that we need, and we didn’t expect it, so it was quite the deal.”
The $10 scratch card ended up being the biggest blessing to Shannon and his wife, who run a small family business in Iowa that handles insulation projects. They revealed that the surprise is godsend as they really needed the money.
Their primary focus is to pay bills, save money, and invest in some good-quality supplies. The business works on weatherproofing, among other things. They desperately needed funding to keep their business running.
