BOISE, Idaho — A Coeur d’Alene woman has beaten overwhelming odds and won $500,000 on two different scratch games played on two consecutive days.
The Idaho Lottery says that Orlene Peterson bought her first winning ticket Friday morning at Albertsons in Hayden.
“I had bought some tickets already, then had $20 left over, so I thought what the heck, I’ll get a Grand Fortune ticket,” said Peterson describing her purchase. “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 a winning ticket on the scratch 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!” exclaimed Peterson when she claimed her $500,000 in combined winnings from the Idaho Lottery offices in Boise on Wednesday.
So, what are the odds of one person buying two six-figure winning scratch tickets over two consecutive days from two different stores in two different towns? Lottery officials estimate that is around 1 in 282.5 million.
Peterson says she plans to pay off bills with her winnings, buy a new truck, and may take a trip to Las Vegas.
