BOISE, Idaho – Friday the 13th turned into a very lucky day for one Utah man who won $100,000 on the Idaho Lottery Scratch Game, Win It All. Elio Juarez, from West Valley, Utah, purchased his $100,000 winning Win it All ticket from the Pilot Travel Center in Mountain Home on a trip while visiting his mother.
“I bought the ticket, scratched it, and saw I matched the right number, but I thought it was maybe a $1,000 winner,” explained Juarez who grew up in Glenns Ferry. “I knew I had to come to the Lottery to claim it so we could see what it really was, but I didn’t believe it was the $100,000 winner. No way it was the big one, that doesn’t happen to me.”
Juarez was about to get the luckiest surprise of his life. When his Win it All ticket was scanned at the Lottery offices in Boise, it showed Juarez it was indeed the $100,000 winning ticket. He couldn’t believe his eyes. “That’s a little more than $1,000,” joked Juarez. “I guess Friday the 13th is lucky for me.”
His lucky Friday became even more real when he received his real check. “Wow! Sweet!” exclaimed Juarez who said it was still too soon to know what he was going to do with his winnings.
Friday the 13th, typically thought of as an unlucky day, is actually very lucky at the Idaho Lottery. In fact, the Lottery has recorded big winners on five of the last six Friday the 13th days:
December 13, 2013 – Amanda Scott, $200,000
February 13, 2015 – Dennis O’Hagan, $2,500
March 13, 2015 – Kaleb Hoover, $250,000
November 13, 2015 – Betty Urbany, $2,500
May 13, 2016 – Elio Juarez, $100,000
The next Friday the 13th is not until January 13, 2017.
