BOISE, Idaho ÔÇô Nearly twenty-four years after launching the Idaho Lottery with the original Idaho Match 3 Scratch GameTM, Tuesday morning the Idaho Lottery reached a major milestone with its debut of Taters of the Moon, the organization's 1000th Scratch Game.

"Idaho and Idahoans have enjoyed playing scratch games since the dawn of the Lottery," said Idaho Lottery Director Jeff Anderson. "We pride ourselves in the quality, fairness, prizes, and entertainment that our Scratch Games provide to all our players. Year in and year out, Scratch Games account for about 64% of the Idaho Lottery's overall revenue."

Since selling its very first $1 scratch ticket on the Capitol steps on July 19, 1989, the Idaho Lottery has offered 999 different Scratch Games, selling nearly $1.58 billion. Taters of the Moon, a $1 ticket that was the second place winner from last summer's public Name that Scratch Game contest became the 1000th game when it shipped to Idaho's 1200 retail locations today.

As a game name, Taters of the Moon was submitted to the Idaho Lottery by Hailey resident Gary Brower in July 2012. The name itself is an obvious play on Craters of the Moon National Monument in central Idaho with a decided Idaho twist featuring its leading agricultural crop, potatoes. The game artwork, illustrated by Idaho artist Pat Dougherty and designed by Idaho Lottery Marketing Director Sherie Moody-St. Clair, features potato characters in space suits pulling cash out of a crater on the lunar surface. The game comes with a top prize of $3,000.

"I am very excited about having my ticket be the 1000th Scratch ticket for the Idaho Lottery," said Brower. "I love Idaho, I love my community, and I hope this game generates revenue for the State's education system."

Over the past 24 years, Idaho has been recognized in the Lottery industry as a strong "scratch ticket" state. Each year, the Lottery offers approximately 52 new scratch games on the market. Idaho has distinguished itself as a national leader with 45 offerings of the Slingo® game series. Cashword tickets, bingo-themed games, and Holiday Scratch tickets are traditional favorites every year.

The Idaho Lottery marketing department has graphic artists on staff to create each individual game. Very few games are purchased from outside vendors. The quality of the artwork over the years has fueled the games' success.

"We take a lot of pride in our ticket designs. For us, it's all about creating fun experiences for our players that helps generate revenue for Idaho's Public Schools and the Permanent Building Fund," explained Moody-St. Clair. "Beyond winning prizes we hope the visual appeal and themes to our games make people laugh, like Taters of the Moon, or reflect the beauty of the Gem State as we showcased in our Great Idaho Cashword game to commemorate Idaho's 150th Anniversary."

Moody-St. Clair highlighted several areas where the Idaho Lottery has been first in its industry to offer certain games, like MonopolyTM, BattleshipTM, Bucks & Trucks, and energy drinks like BooKoo BucksTM.

"About 15 years ago, we worked with Sun Valley artist Jane Wooster Scott on a Happy Holidays games series," added Moody-St. Clair. "The popularity of her work with us started a lottery industry trend to feature local artists on scratch tickets."

Some of the more memorable Scratch Games offered by the Idaho Lottery in the past twenty-three years include Triple Dog Dare, the series Triple Dynamite 7's and the Gem 7's series. And while the Idaho Lottery has offered nostalgia-themed games like CheersTM and TwisterTM, they also have had success keeping current with modern trends by offering games like BejeweledTM┬®, For the Love of Bacon, and Mustache Cashword. Over the years, the Idaho Lottery has also partnered with major motion picture studios to offer games that coincide with blockbuster film releases including BewitchedTM, Indiana JonesTM and the Kingdom of the Crystal SkullTM, Sherlock Holmes, The Green HornetTM, The AvengersTM, and Star TrekTM┬®.

The Idaho Lottery maintains a variety of play-styles at various prices and top prizes of Scratch Games all year. Currently, the Idaho Lottery is offering the largest single cash prize ever offered by a Scratch game, $300,000 in the game $300,000 Spectacular.

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