BOISE, Idaho ÔÇô "I'm back!" exclaimed an excited Eddie Tarsha as he stood in the Idaho Lottery's Winner's Lobby on Monday morning. "I told you I was going to win $100,000 one of these days the last time I was here, and I did!"

In September 2008, Tarsha won a high-tier prize of $10,000 on the Idaho Lottery Scratch Game Wild 10's. Almost 18 months to the day, Tarsha was back in the Winner's Lobby holding the top prize of $100,000 on the Idaho Lottery's Casino Cashword Scratch Game.

Tarsha's $100,000 win was one of six top-prize winning Scratch tickets paid by the Idaho Lottery on Monday. Collectively, the six top prize winners won a total of $310,000, including one $10,000 winner, two $30,000 winners, and two $70,000 winners.

The big win for Tarsha came at an opportune time in his life. For the past two years, Tarsha has been battling severe and aggravating back pains that require expensive medical treatment. This big win could be his ticket to greatly improved health.

"There are some medical options I'm looking at that should help, but they are incredibly expensive," said Tarsha. "Now, I think I'll be able to get them and improve my life."

The $100,000 Casino Cashword winning ticket was sold at the Jacksons Food Store on Capitol and Myrtle in downtown Boise. For their part in selling the winning ticket, Jacksons will receive a bonus from the Idaho Lottery for $12,000.

While three of the six winning tickets were from outside the Treasure Valley, Jacksons Food Stores sold two of the three won in Boise on Monday. In addition to the $100,000 winner, the Jacksons Food Store on Fairview in Meridian sold a $70,000 Ruby Red 7's winning ticket. Besides these two, earlier in March, Jacksons sold Anthony Castro's $250,000 winning ticket and a $50,000 winning Greenline Bonus Cashword to Claudia Raber of Meridian the next day.

"We've had a great month for our Lottery customers at Jacksons," added Rich Levin, Jacksons Vice President of Marketing. "We pride ourselves on selling more winning Idaho Lottery tickets than any retailer in the state."

# # #