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Gym owner buys chicken salad wrap and Powerball tickets — then wins big prize in Iowa

An Illinois man who owns a gym in Iowa recently stopped to buy a chicken salad wrap before heading home from work.

While at Porter’s Convenient ‘66 in Clinton, Mark Dann decided to add on a few Powerball plays for the Saturday, Feb. 4, drawing, according to a news release from the Iowa Lottery.

But after the drawing that evening, the 55-year-old man from Fulton, Illinois, forgot to check if he won anything.

It wasn’t until the next morning, as he was about to leave home and head to his gym, that he remembered.

“While the garage door was going down, I said, ‘I’m going to check my tickets,’” he told Iowa Lottery officials.

He scanned his Powerball ticket with the Iowa Lottery app and quickly realized he won two prizes, officials said. One was worth $4 — and the other had a $50,000 prize.

“It said $50,004,” Dann said in the release. “I’m like, ‘Uh, what?’

Unsure if the app was right, he scanned his ticket again, officials said. Then he also went back to the convenience store to have a worker confirm his win.

Sure enough, he had won $50,004.

“I said, ‘Hey, tell the two girls who worked yesterday that that was the best chicken salad wrap worth $50,000 of my life,’” Dann recalled to lottery officials.

“It’s just unbelievable,” he said when claiming his prize. “I’m always thinking that I’m going to win $10, $20, maybe $100, but me, myself, I won $50,000. Unbelievable.”

Dann plans to use some of his winnings to pay off his motorcycle and get a new stereo for it, according to the release. He also plans to buy a new mattress and a new pair of glasses.

Dann’s home in Fulton is about 3 miles northeast of Clinton, where he owns his gym.

If you or a loved one shows signs of gambling addiction, you can seek help by calling the national gambling hotline at 1-800-522-4700 or visiting the National Council on Problem Gambling website.

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