Boise – Connie Goins received a phone call from her daughter early this morning telling her to check her Powerball tickets from last night because there was a $200,000 winner in Emmett. Goins quickly pulled up the Idaho Lottery’s website to check the numbers.
“I’m afraid someone else is going to win it,” she said to her daughter. Goins regularly plays her own numbers, birthdays and anniversary dates for her family. As the two talked on the phone, Goins checked her numbers again. That’s when it started to sink in she had a big winning ticket.
“Now wait a minute, that’s a birthday, that’s a birthday, and that’s a birthday, and so is that one,” she told her daughter excitedly. “Next thing I knew, I had all five!”
Goins, the Gem County Treasurer was holding the winning $200,000 Powerball ticket from last night’s draw that was sold at the Stinker Store in Emmett. “It’s just something else,” she exclaimed.
According to Goins, she plays the numbers that her late husband always played: birthdays of their children and their anniversary. “I was never much of a lottery player until Geno passed away. I found his playslips and have been using them ever since,” she described. “He always told me we were going to hit it.”
And Geno was right. The icon of Emmett and owner of Geno’s barber shop passed away suddenly last September, pre-maturely ending a 35-year romance and marriage with his wife. His daughter, Niccole Welch, took over the business and now operates Studio 59 (named for the age of her father when he died) had to drive her mother in to Boise to collect their winnings.
“She was too nervous and excited to drive,” confessed a happy Welch.
After taxes, Goins took home $134,400. For their part in selling the ticket, Stinker Store in Emmett will receive a bonus from the Lottery worth $20,000.
Her plans for the winnings are what one might expect from an elected County Treasurer. “I’m going to save it and invest for my retirement,” she said before adding as an after-thought, “I might paint my house and add a little color. Maybe even a Powerball on the wall.”
“Geno always said, you can’t win if you don’t play,” explained Goins on her philosophy. “I just have a feeling in my heart that he was looking out for me and making life a little easier for us.”
The spirit of Geno Goins lives on.
Goins was not the only big winner from last night’s Powerball draw. A winning ticket worth $600,000 was sold in Nampa. Chuck McCloughlin of Meridian won the $30,000 ticket sold at the Jacksons Food Store #11 located at 1585 South Meridian Road. One ticket worth $10,000 was sold in Malad City and another one in Coeur d’Alene.
