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Thursday, July 19, 2007                                                                                             

 

Lottery Celebrates 18 Years with $1 Million Powerball Winner

 

Boise – The Idaho Lottery celebrated its 18^th anniversary today by awarding Twa Thammavongsa with a $1 million check from last Wednesday’s Powerball draw.  Thammavongsa bought the winning ticket from the Jacksons located at 2581 S. Broadway in Boise.

 

“Oh my god, it’s going to give me a heart attack,” exclaimed Thammavongsa when he heard the news he was the big winner. His winning ticket matched all five numbers from last Wednesday night’s draw but not the Powerball and had the PowerPlay option.

 

“The Lottery began on July 19, 1989 and what a perfect way to celebrate our 18^th year,” stated Idaho Lottery Director Jeff Anderson. “Normally this would be a $200,000 winner, but his ticket carried the PowerPlay multiplier of five, which turned his ticket into the million dollar winner.”

 

PowerPlay is an option players select at the time of purchase for an extra $1 per play. PowerPlay multiplies all non-jackpot winning tickets by 2 to 5, depending on the number drawn.

 

A hard working man who moved to Boise in 1987 from Laos and did not speak English, Thammavongsa graduated from Boise High School and has been building a Thai restaurant business to support his family.  “I have been so busy working that I did not check my tickets until early this week,” said the owner of the two Siam Thai Restaurants in Boise and Meridian that he took over in 1999.  “I did not know anyone was looking for a big winner in Boise!”

 

When he did check his numbers, he saw that he had matched all five numbers but thought he had only won $200,000. He signed his ticket before bringing it in to Lottery Headquarters in Boise where he learned the good news. “When they told me it was worth $1 million, my heart started racing like 100 miles per hour,” explained the gracious winner.

 

For their part in selling the winning ticket, Jacksons Food Stores will receive a bonus worth $50,000. “We always enjoy when a long time customer from our community wins big in one of our stores,” said Damon Phelps, Vice President of Operations for Jacksons.

 

After taxes, Thammavongsa will take home a cash lump sum of $672,000.  He plans to invest money into helping grow his businesses and to support his family.

 

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