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You might say the Idaho Lottery saved the "Best" for last this summer. And what a summer it has been, too.
Late in the afternoon on Friday, August 30, Michael Best from Lewiston found his way from Lewiston to the Lottery Offices in Boise holding a $50,000 winning ticket on Wheel of Fortune Cashword. Not only did he claim the prize, he won the prize at a grand re-opening of the Southway 76 store in Lewiston the day before which featured a live radio remote with KOZE radio and a special buy $10 in Scratch ticket receive a $5 free ticket offer from the Idaho Lottery!
"I thought it was just a $1,000 winner, then I realized I had one more word. That made it $50,000," described Best on his winning experience. "I thought winning $1,000 was the best day ever and then, I got to celebrate the best day ever twice when I found out it was $50,000!"
And so ended an amazing summer for the Idaho Lottery, with, well, the best. In so many ways, the summer was simply the best. Not only did we crown the Fastest Scratcher in Idaho on July 19, we returned the largest dividend in our history ($60 million), and became the Official GUINNESS WORLD RECORDSTM title holders for the Largest gathering of people scratching scratch cards ÔÇô all on the same day. Leading up to those mid-July milestones, the Lottery's Wooh Crew conducted 30 in-store, events around Idaho to celebrate our 30th Anniversary in grand style.
Beyond July 19, it was also one of the best summers for Lottery players. In just 91 days, the Lottery had 33 winners who claimed a prize of $25,000 or more. That's better than one in every three days. There were two, $300,000 winners and a $299,000 winner. Four people won a quarter-of-a-million dollars, and a total of 13 winners won at least a six figure prize. Twenty-three different communities were involved with big winners from the tiny burg of Weston in far southeastern Idaho all the way to Ponderay in Idaho's panhandle.
There was even a guy who won whose first two names were Sean and Connery. Albeit not the famous Scottish actor of James Bond notoriety.
It was the summer that had it all and is definitely one for the record books. But we believe our winner on August 30 summed it up with, "You can't get any better than the best."
And for the Idaho Lottery, during the summer of 2019, we were definitely the best!
