A longtime Idaho lottery player got the surprise of his life after casually checking his tickets at a familiar neighborhood stop.
Sean Klingler of Rigby was spending time at a local gas station he often visits for coffee when he decided to look through several lottery tickets he had left in his truck, according to a press release and an Instagram video from the Idaho Lottery. What began as a routine check quickly turned unforgettable.
“I had eight Raffle tickets, and when the clerk checked them, she told me I had won $100,000,” Klingler said, recalling the moment he checked his Idaho $1,000,000 Raffle tickets.
At first, he didn’t buy it. “I didn’t believe her. I thought maybe it was $100,” he said.
Moments later, the situation took an even more dramatic turn. The clerk realized she had missed a few zeros.
“She said to me, ‘No, I got it wrong — you won $1,000,000!’” Klingler shared. “There was a lot of high-fiving in the store after that.”
Laughing in the Instagram video, he compared the moment to “a craps table when you’re on hot dice.”
After signing the winning ticket, Klingler immediately called his wife and daughter. The disbelief continued at home, so he put the call on speaker and had everyone in the store confirm the news.
“Nobody believes you right out of the gate,” he said. “They always think you’re fooling them. This helps,” he added, gesturing toward the oversized check.
Klingler, his wife, and their daughter later traveled to the Idaho Lottery office in Boise on Tuesday, Dec. 30, to officially claim the prize.
He said he plans to handle the winnings carefully: paying off some debts, buying his wife a new car, and setting aside the rest for retirement.
“I’ve been playing the Lottery for a long time,” Klingler said. “You dream about winning, and when it finally comes true, it’s weird.”
Several prizes from this year’s Raffle game are still unclaimed, including another $1 million ticket sold in Kootenai County and a $100,000 ticket sold in Payette County. Meanwhile, another winner, Kurt Blaisdell of Pocatello, took home $50,000 and said he plans to use the money to buy an engagement ring for his fiancée.
