FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                        

 

Friday, November 9, 2007 

 

CONTACT: David Workman

(208) 334-2600

 

Raffle-mania Sweeping Idaho

 

Boise – Raffle-mania is sweeping Idaho and with a million dollars guaranteed to the winner, players are gearing up to purchase their Idaho $1,000,000 Raffle tickets when they go on sale at 12:01 AM mountain time Sunday morning.  

 

Interior Elements, a decorative accents company in Meridian is putting together an office pool of a little more than $500. “We’ll be sending our store manager David Wood down to his local Jacksons at midnight on Saturday night to get our tickets,” declared Diana Noble, the store’s assistant manager.

 

“It’s the Lottery’s version of midnight madness,” replied Wood who also said his family is putting together a pool of about $400. “My mom, sisters, everybody is in on it. Everyone is real excited about this.”

 

And Idaho’s retailers are gearing up for the game.  On Friday morning, Monique Zehner, owner of On The Fly at 4780 State Street was putting up posters and banners to advertise the Raffle while her colleagues were busy explaining the game to customers. A couple of their customers were trying to buy tickets even though they don’t go on sale until Sunday.  “We’ve had a lot of people asking about how to get raffle tickets who don’t normally play the Lottery,” admitted Zehner. 

 

“Typically we only see this type of excitement when we have a big Powerball jackpot run,” described Jeff Anderson, Idaho Lottery Director. “But the level of excitement and anticipation for this game is incredible.”

 

The Lottery offices have answered numerous calls and emails all week since the Raffle was announced. There have been reports of long-haul truck drivers reserving tickets in advance since they may not make it back to the state before the tickets are sold out.  Some players have even talked about camping out to get their tickets on Sunday when they go on sale. The Lottery has also received many calls from out-of-state residents wanting to know how to purchase tickets.  Internet and mail purchases are prohibited by federal law. Tickets are only available at officially licensed Lottery retailers.

 

This is the first ever million dollar raffle offered by the Idaho Lottery and it comes with the best odds ever of winning at 1 in 250,000.  There are also several other amounts available to win in this Idaho-only game including four $25,000 prizes, three hundred $500 prizes, and five hundred $100 prizes. 

 

Some retail locations across the state are even pre-selling tickets. Blake Gardner, the manager of KJ’s Superstore at 3855 Poleline Road in Pocatello has been promoting the Raffle for a few days. “I have taken a few advance orders from some of our regular Lottery players,” confessed Gardner.

 

In Rigby, Bob’s Kwik Serv at 412 Farnsworth Way is running a special in-store promotion. Anyone who pre-buys a raffle ticket receives two Money Hungry Lottery Scratch tickets of which one must be donated to the store’s Muscular Dystrophy Drive. All the proceeds from the winning scratch tickets will be donated to the Muscular Dystrophy. 

 

According to Judy Doney, a cashier at the Short Stop Shell station at 8895 Commerce Drive in Hayden Lake, she has had to turn people away who want to buy their tickets today. “Several folks have come in asking to buy them and I told them to come back and see me on Sunday morning,” said Doney.

 

As with any lotto game, the Lottery cautions players to play responsibly, sign their tickets and keep them in a safe place until the drawing. “We want people to have fun and remember the Lottery benefits everyone,” said Anderson. “Every play pays.”

 

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