BOISE, Idaho ÔÇô During the past five and a half months, the Idaho Lottery has seen one of its most successful runs in its 22-year history with big winners that have included three one million dollar winners on Powerball and two jackpot winners, one each on Wild Card and Mega Millions. After the much publicized stories of all these winners, the Idaho Lottery was asked recently if Idaho was the luckiest place to play the Lottery per capita in the United States.

"We say that luck happens in Idaho and lately, it's been happening a lot," said Jeff Anderson, Idaho Lottery Director. "Since December 1, 2010, in multi-state jackpot Draw Games with prizes over $500,000, Idaho ranks number one per capita for big winners."

The Idaho Lottery looked into wins of $200,000 and up, and wins of $500,000 and higher by each United States lottery since December 1, 2010 when the current run of good luck began in Idaho for all their big draw games: Powerball, Mega Millions, Wild Card and Hot Lotto. In wins of $200,000 or more, Idaho ranks fifth per capita against the other 44 North American jurisdictions that sell lottery products with an average win of one per 223,940 citizens. In wins of $500,000 or more, Idaho ranks first per capita with one big win per 313,516 citizens.

During this time, Idaho has recorded seven players who have won at least $250,000. Six players have won over $600,000, four have won over $1,000,000 and one player has won more than $100,000,000. The lucky seven winners were:

Donna Flint and family, Brigham City, UT Dec 2010 $1,000,000 on Powerball
Kevin Anderson, Melba, ID Jan 2011 $250,000 on Mega Millions
Holly Lahti, Post Falls, ID Jan 2011 $190,000,000 on Mega Millions
William Lauder, Meridian, ID Feb 2011 $250,000 on Mega Millions
Alan Riley, Utah County, UT Feb 2011 $1,000,000 on Powerball
Kevin Russell, Boise, ID Apr 2011 $614,731 on Wild Card
Michael Boca and group, Ogden, UT May 2011 $1,000,000 on Powerball

"This is a very remarkable string of good luck we hope to continue not only for our players, but also for our retail business partners and our beneficiaries, the public schools and permanent buildings of Idaho," added Anderson.

The estimated jackpot for Wednesday night's Powerball draw is $144 million.

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