Kingston woman wins $250K

Even second-time, top prize lottery winner Cindie Sawyer couldn't believe what she was seeing after uncovering the final top prize of $250,000 on the Idaho Lottery's 25th Anniversary Scratch Game.

About three weeks before the end of 2014, Sawyer visited the Beamis-Hico convenience store in Wallace on her way to work and bought an Idaho Lottery 25th Anniversary Scratch ticket. She won $25 on that ticket.

She returned to the store and bought the next ticket with her winnings.

"When I scratched the next ticket and saw that I won $250,000 I just couldn't believe it," Sawyer said. "I took the ticket to work and looked at it under a magnifying glass just to make sure. Then I called my husband and told him. Winning once was exciting, but to do it twice? Unbelievable."

Sawyer's take-home pay with the win was $169,000.

Sawyer won $100,000 three-and-a-half years ago on the scratch game $100,000 Big Winner. Beamis-Hico in Wallace, where she purchased this winning ticket, previously sold a $250,000 winning ticket to Bruce Baraby in October 2009.

This makes Beamis-Hico in the Silver Valley one of the luckiest stores to sell top-prize winning Scratch tickets in Idaho.

After winning for the second time in three and a half years, Sawyer plans to invest her winnings and continue working at her job.

For their part in Sawyer's win, Beamis-Hico receives a bonus from the Idaho Lottery of $20,000.

With the final top prize claimed by Sawyer, the 25th Anniversary game has officially ended. Players participating in the game's second-chance draw have until Friday at 10:55 p.m. to enter any non-winning 25th Anniversary Scratch Games for the second chance prize of $25,000.

The drawing for the second-chance prize will take place on Wednesday, Jan. 15, with the winner being posted to the Lottery website by 2 p.m.