North Idaho woman wins big with scratchers

COEUR d'ALENE — What are the odds of the same person buying two six-figure winning Idaho Lottery Scratch tickets over two consecutive days from two different stores in two different towns?

There are too many variables to calculate with certainty, but the Idaho Lottery unofficially estimates it is about 1 in 282.5 million.

Those once in-a-millennia odds are what Orlene Peterson of Coeur d’Alene beat to claim the last top prize of $300,000 on the Scratch Game Comin’ in Hot, and the first top prize of $200,000 on the Scratch Game Grand Fortune.

She bought the first winning ticket of $200,000 early Friday morning from the Albertsons in Hayden.

“I had bought some tickets already, then had $20 leftover, so I thought what the heck, I’ll get a Grand Fortune ticket,” Peterson said. “When I scanned the ticket, it said I had to contact the Idaho Lottery for my winnings. That had never happened before when I was playing. I checked it and it was a $200,000 winner. I couldn’t believe it.”

The next morning, Peterson was at the Fred Meyer in Coeur d’Alene and bought the last $300,000 winning ticket on the game Comin’ in Hot.

“When I scanned it and said I had to claim it at the lottery, I thought maybe it was $1,000. I never imagined it would be $300,000 and that it happened again. The next day!” Peterson said when she claimed her $500,000 in combined winnings from the Idaho Lottery Offices in Boise on Wednesday.

“Idaho has a long history of being a lucky place to win. But there is a truth about our games: Players who buy tickets, win prizes,” said Jeff Anderson, Idaho Lottery Director. “Being lucky started with playing the games.”

Peterson plans to pay off bills, purchase a new truck, and then is contemplating a trip to Las Vegas with her winnings.

For their part in selling the winning tickets, both Fred Meyer and Albertsons will receive a bonus of $20,000 each from the Idaho Lottery.