Teresa Stone arrived at the Idaho Lottery offices in Boise wearing a homemade t-shirt that simply said "Believe". She also happened to be holding a winning Scratch ticket worth $200,000.
Stone, from Ashton, purchased her $200,000 winning Triple Golden Cherries Scratch ticket from the Maverik located at the corner of 1st North and 2nd South in Rexburg after work last Thursday.
"I bought a couple in the morning and neither of them won," explained Stone on why she returned later in the day to the same store to try again. "I just believed one of the next couple of tickets would be a winner, so I went back after work and bought two more. The first won $25 and the second was this one!"
In somewhat of a state of shock, Stone called her husband. After sharing the good news, the couple locked the ticket away in a fireproof gun safe until bringing it to Boise to claim.
Stone says she wore her embroidered "Believe" t-shirt deliberately to claim her prize, explaining the word is the mantra of her mother and her family had made the shirts to honor her.
"You gotta believe!" exclaimed Stone when she received her winning check. Stone says she plans to pay off bills and support her family with her winnings.
For selling the winning ticket, Maverik receives a $20,000 bonus from the Idaho Lottery. Since 1989, this Maverik store in Rexburg has contributed over $1.5 million to support public education in Madison County.
By claiming the last top prize of $200,000, the Scratch Game Triple Golden Cherries has officially ended.
