FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BOISE, Idaho – Casey Winter and his longtime girlfriend Josie Nelson were on their way to a family celebration Thursday night when they decided to check their Powerball tickets for winners. When they scanned their ticket from Monday night’s draw, they got the surprise of a lifetime.

“I scanned it with my Idaho Lottery app on my phone,” explained Nelson, an Idaho native. “It said the prize amount was too much to show me and that I needed to call the Lottery office. I started checking the website to check the numbers, to make sure I had the right date, but I didn’t believe it.”

When Winter arrived home, Nelson showed him the ticket, just to make sure she was believing what she was seeing. Just to confirm it, the couple then took the ticket to a local store to scan it there.

“The machine made the big winner sound and the clerk told us we needed to take it to the Lottery,” said Winter. “So, we pushed back our dinner reservations and hurried down to the Lottery Offices before they closed.”

Winter’s Powerball ticket matched four of the first five numbers and the Powerball from Monday night’s draw. Since August, all Powerball tickets in Idaho include PowerPlay, which mulitplies non-jackpot winnings by the number selected for the draw. That number on Monday night was 2, making the couple’s winner worth $100,000. They claimed their prize late on Thursday evening just before Lottery offices closed.

“I know I missed the jackpot by one number, but I’m not complaining,” said Winter, who is also a lifelong Idahoan and a local fireman in the Treasure Valley.

The couple said they planned to use their winnings as a down payment for a permanent house in the area.

“We were both born and raised here. With the housing market being what it is, winning Powerball is going to help two native Idahoans afford to stay in Idaho!” said Nelson with a big smile.

Winter’s winning ticket was sold at Jacksons on Franklin and Linder in Meridian. Jacksons receives a bonus from the Idaho Lottery for $10,000.

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The Idaho Lottery responsibly provides a variety of entertaining games featuring Powerball, Mega Millions, Scratch GamesTM, 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 $4.6 billion in products, awarded more than $2.8 billion in prizes to players, returned $270.9 million in retail commissions, and distributed $1.034 billion in Lottery dividends to Idaho public schools and buildings. To learn more, please visit www.idaholottery.com.