BOISE, Idaho ÔÇô According to Idaho Lottery winner Patrick Cox of Ketchum, today he has 200,000 reasons to be happy and feel blessed. First thing this morning, Cox stopped in the Albertsons in Hailey and purchased a few Idaho Lottery Merry Millions Scratch Tickets. After playing them for a few minutes, he realized he was holding the game's final top prize of $200,000.

Cox then quickly postponed his business meetings for the day and immediately drove three hours to the Lottery's Offices in Boise to collect his winnings.

"Playing the Lottery is my form of entertainment," said Cox. "You just have to believe that you're going to win."

A regular Lottery player, Cox recorded his second top prize win in the last nine months. Last April, he won $56,177 playing Idaho Jackpot.

"I know the odds on the games, I see who has won recently on the website; you just have to be smart about the game you're playing and believe you can win," said Cox as he imparted some of his playing wisdom.

"I feel very fortunate for winning. I'm going to bless a lot of people with this win," said a humble Cox upon collecting his winnings before returning to Ketchum for work.

This was the final top prize on the holiday-themed game Merry Millions. This game has officially ended.

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ABOUT THE IDAHO LOTTERY
The Idaho Lottery responsibly provides a variety of entertaining games featuring Powerball, Mega Millions, Scratch Games^TM, and PullTabs with a high degree of integrity to maximize the dividend for Idaho public schools and the permanent building fund. Since their inception in 1989, the Idaho Lottery has sold over $3.1 billion in products, awarded over $1.9 billion in prizes to players, returned $186.5 million in retail commissions, and distributed $744 million in Lottery dividends to Idaho public schools and the Permanent Building Fund. To learn more, please visit www.idaholottery.com.