BOISE, Idaho ÔÇô After 76 days and another sell out of the Idaho Lottery's fourth annual edition of the holiday Idaho $1,000,000 Raffle, the wait is finally over. At 6:00 p.m. Mountain Time tonight, one ticket will become worth a guaranteed $1,000,000. Only 250,000 of the $10 tickets were sold and tonight, one of those tickets will make someone the Idaho Lottery's 25th millionaire.

"There's a lot of excitement and enthusiasm right now around Idaho to find out who will be the big winners," said Jeff Anderson, Idaho Lottery Director. "We've received numerous calls and e-mails from players since we sold out anxious to know when the winning numbers will be announced."

"We are strongly encouraging all our players to sign the back of their raffle ticket prior to tonight's draw," added Anderson. "These tickets are bearer instruments and we want to ensure each player protects their play. The $1,000,000 prize and the four $25,000 prizes must be claimed at the Lottery offices in Boise."

In addition to the top prize of $1,000,000, the Lottery will also announce the winning numbers for the four $25,000 prizes. The winning numbers for the two hundred and fifty $250 prizes, five hundred $100 prizes, and one-thousand seven hundred and fifty $50 prizes will be posted on the Idaho Lottery's website at idaholottery.com. Players can also check their tickets by calling the Idaho Lottery Winning Numbers Hotline (208-334-4656), or by visiting an open Idaho Lottery retailer.

When visiting the Idaho Lottery's website (idaholottery.com), players can click on the Raffle Results banner from the home page. The winning numbers for the $1,000,000 prize and the $25,000 prizes will be posted on the Raffle Results main page. Players will have several options for checking their tickets on the website for all the prizes. There is a check-a-ticket function where players enter their raffle ticket number to see if it has won a prize. All 2,505 winning numbers will be listed sequentially by prize category and available for download in pdf format.

Players can also check their tickets and validate their $250, $100 and $50 prizes at any open Idaho Lottery retail location on Wednesday night, or all Lottery retail locations when they open for business on Thursday morning.

Players wishing to claim their prizes at Idaho Lottery Headquarters in Boise should note that Idaho Lottery offices will be open during regular business hours on Thursday, December 30, 2010 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mountain Time. The Lottery will be closed on December 31, 2010 in honor of New Year's Day and will re-open again on Monday, January 3, 2010 at 8 a.m.

This year's Idaho $1,000,000 Raffle game began sales on October 15, 2010 and sold out on Christmas Eve. About 26% of the entire game sold in the final seven days of sales. With the game being a sell-out, the Idaho $1,000,000 Raffle game generated $750,000 in dividend revenue to benefit public schools and the permanent building fund.

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