BOISE, Idaho ÔÇô Happy birthday wishes to a Rigby man who celebrated a few days early with an $80,000 Scratch Game win from the Idaho Lottery.

Kahn McAllister, and his wife Karleen, Rigby, were visiting his family in Ririe for an early birthday dinner celebration when the couple stopped in the Gateway Service store. An avid Lottery player, McAllister reinvested some previous winning Idaho Lottery Scratch tickets and bought a series of Even More Crazier 8s from the Idaho Lottery at the store.

"The first few tickets didn't win at all. Then, the next one came along and I thought at first I'd won $8," explained McAllister. "Then it was $80, then $800, nope, it was the $80,000 prize. I got lucky!"

"I couldn't breathe and I kept jumping around all excited," added McAllister. "I couldn't believe it! And my birthday is in a few days!"

McAllister says he plans to take his wife and their young daughter to Disneyland to meet Princesses then invest the remainder of his winnings.

"Invest, invest, invest," added Karleen reassuringly. "That's where this is going."

For their part in selling the winning ticket, Gateway Service in Ririe receives a bonus from the Idaho Lottery of $8,000.

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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 $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.