BOISE, Idaho ÔÇô Even second-time, top prize Lottery winner Cindie Sawyer couldn't believe what she was seeing after uncovering the final top prize of $250,000 on the Idaho Lottery's 25th Anniversary Scratch GameTM.
About three weeks before the end of 2014, Sawyer visited the Beamis-Hico convenience store in Wallace on her way to work and bought an Idaho Lottery 25th Anniversary Scratch ticket. She won $25 on that ticket. She returned to the store and bought the next ticket with her winnings.
"When I scratched the next ticket and saw that I won $250,000 I just couldn't believe it. I took the ticket to work and looked at it under a magnifying glass just to make sure," confessed Sawyer. "Then I called my husband and told him. Winning once was exciting, but to do it twice? Unbelievable."
Sawyer won $100,000 three-and-a-half years ago on the Scratch game $100,000 Big Winner. Beamis-Hico in Wallace, where she purchased this winning ticket, previously sold a $250,000 winning ticket to Bruce Baraby in October 2009. This makes Beamis-Hico in the Silver Valley one of the luckiest stores to sell top prize winning Scratch tickets in Idaho.
After winning for the second time in three-and-a-half years, Sawyer plans to invest her winnings and continue working at her job. For their part in Sawyer's win, Beamis-Hico receives a bonus from the Idaho Lottery of $20,000.
With the final top prize claimed by Sawyer, the 25th Anniversary game has officially ended. Players participating in the game's second chance draw have until Friday, January 09, 2015 at 11:55 pm MT to enter any non-winning 25th AnniversaryScratch Games for the second chance prize of $25,000. The drawing for the second chance prize will take place on Wednesday, January 15, 2015 with the winner being posted to the Lottery's website by 3 pm MT.
PHOTO OF SAWYER IS AVAILABLE.
ABOUT THE IDAHO LOTTERY
The Idaho Lottery responsibly provides a variety of entertaining games featuring Powerball, Mega Millions, Scratch GamesTM, 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 $2.7 billion in products, awarded over $1.6 billion in prizes to players, returned more than $160 million in retail commissions, and distributed $649.5 million in Lottery dividends to Idaho public schools and the Permanent Building Fund. To learn more, please visit www.idaholottery.com.
CONTACT: David Workman
(208) 334-2600