FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

 

CONTACT: David Workman         

(208) 334-2600

                                

No April Fools – Oldtown’s Whitehead wins $50,000 on Lottery’s Price is Right Scratch Game

 

Boise – Of the all the days of the year that someone could win big playing the Idaho Lottery, April 1 is usually the hardest for a player or anyone else to believe their good fortune.  So began the story for Stephen Whitehead of Oldtown. After scratching and winning the top prize on a $5 instant ticket, Whitehead stood in the Idaho Lottery Winner’s Lobby like an en enthusiastic player in contestant’s row who might have just heard the phrase, ‘Stephen Whitehead, come on down, you’ve just won $50,000 on the Price is Right!’

 

“I honestly didn’t believe it until I got to Boise and the Idaho Lottery actually ran the ticket for real,” said Whitehead in disbelief Thursday afternoon.

 

Whitehead, an Oldtown resident and construction worker on custom homes who has had trouble finding work during the long winter, was on his way to a job site when he stopped for a cup of coffee at the Muzzy Fast Stop convenience store on Highway 2. 

 

“I was really early for work and had some time on my hands, so in addition to the cup of coffee I got, I also picked up a couple of $5 scratch tickets,” described Whitehead. “It was all my lunch money for the day and I was just hoping I’d win at least enough money back to have lunch.”

 

His first ticket was a non-winner.  And after scratching the majority of his Price is Right game ticket (including Spin the Wheel and the Showcase Showdown), he was convinced this ticket was not going to be a winner either. Then he scratched the “Grand $ Game” where, if any of the grocery items have a lower price than the target price, players win the prize shown.

 

“My target price was $1.  I scratched off one area and it said my price was 80 cents and I thought, hey, that’s less than a dollar,” Whitehead explained. “Then I scratched the prize and it said $50,000. I still don’t really believe it.”

 

Convinced he was having an April Fools joke played on him, Whitehead handed the ticket back to Jenny the store clerk to check if it really was a winner. After she informed it was and that he needed to go to Boise to collect his winnings, a celebration of cheering and high-fives ensued. For their part in selling the winning ticket, Muzzy Fast Stop will receive a $6,000 bonus from the Idaho Lottery.

 

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ABOUT THE IDAHO LOTTERY

The Idaho Lottery responsibly provides a variety of entertaining games featuring Powerball, Scratch™ tickets, and PullTabs with a high degree of integrity to maximize the dividend for Idaho public schools and the permanent building fund. Since it’s inception in 1989, the Idaho Lottery has sold more than $1.7 billion in products, awarded over $1 billion in prizes to players, returned more than $100 million in retail commissions, and distributed more than $402 million in Lottery dividends to state public schools and buildings. To learn more, please visit www.idaholottery.com.