Idaho Lottery:

Idaho Lottery conducts first USA holiday raffle drawing of 2009

The Idaho Lottery conducted its $1,000,000 Raffle drawing Wednesday evening, and created one instant millionaire.

The winning numbers are available Lottery Post's Idaho Lottery Results page (www.lotterypost.com/results/id).

In addition to the $1 million top prize, there will be four winners of $10,000, 60 winners of $1,000, 1,000 winners of $100, and 2,000 winners of $50. All prizes are lump-sum cash payments.

A total of 250,000 tickets were available for the raffle at the price of $10 apiece. Sales of Raffle tickets began Oct. 31, 2009, and all the tickets were sold prior to the drawing.

During the height of sales last week, Idaho $1,000,000 Raffle tickets were selling at a rate of 1,600 an hour. The game was 95.4% sold out by the morning of Dec. 23 and sold the final 11,488 tickets in about 19 hours.

The Raffle drawing took place at 9:59 p.m. MT this evening.

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

Prize claims

Players can validate $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.

"We are strongly encouraging all our players to sign the back of their raffle ticket prior to tonight's draw," said Anderson. "These tickets are bearer instruments and we want to ensure each player protects their play. The $1,000,000 prize, the four $10,000 prizes, and the sixty $1,000 prizes must be claimed at the Lottery offices in Boise. The $100 and $50 prizes can be claimed at any Idaho Lottery retail location."

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 31, 2009 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mountain Time. The Lottery will be closed on January 1, 2010 for New Year's Day and will re-open again on Monday, January 4, 2010 at 8 a.m.