Boise – Janie Buffington reacted the way most Lottery winners do when she got the call from the Idaho Lottery that her second chance entry tickets for Indiana Jones™ and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Scratch™ game just won her $50,000 – disbelief, shaking, and tears of joy. At first she even thought it was a practical joke. Her euphoria quickly turned to deep concern and an extreme amount of anxiety when Buffington realized she had misplaced the winning ticket somewhere in her house.
Indiana Jones™ and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Scratch™ game was launched on April 21, 2008 and sold out in nearly 14 weeks, making it one of the Idaho Lottery’s most popular $5 scratch games this year. Players who did not win instantly on their ticket were able to enter three non-winning Indiana Jones™ tickets via tele-entry or through the Lottery’s website for a chance to win the second top prize of $50,000, or $25 worth of Fandango® movie tickets. All the entries were entered into a drawing for the top prize. Winners, by Idaho law, are required to produce the winning tickets they entered when they claim their prize at Lottery headquarters.
Adventure has a whole new meaning for Buffington following three phone calls with the Lottery’s security division, followed by more than a half an hour of tearing her home apart trying to find the winning tickets she’d entered. “I was convinced the Lottery detective was telling me the wrong ticket numbers,” laughed Buffington. “I couldn’t believe that I was that inept in entering wrong numbers because I enter data all day long for my job!”
According to Buffington, she had kept a stack of her entries together on top of a bookcase however the three tickets were not in the stack. Like the iconic cinema figure Dr. Jones himself tracking down a great archeological artifact, Buffington’s hunt for the winning tickets ensued. After thirty minutes of frantic searching throughout her home, Buffington paused and took a moment to recount all the steps she had taken 30 days before starting with her home computer.
“We have this really poufy, oversized cushioned computer chair,” she explained. “After entering those three tickets, I actually stuffed them between the seat cushion and the arm of the chair. I guess it really was a safe place to keep them!"
Another half hour later, Buffington and her husband Larry were in the lobby of the Lottery offices to claim their $50,000 prize putting an end to that day’s excitement. Big fans of Harrison Ford and his new movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Buffington claimed $33,600 after state and federal taxes plus took home a souvenir movie poster along with her souvenir winner’s check.
The life-long Boisean who works for SUPERVALU, INC. said she did not have any immediate plans for the winning check. Her husband Larry however did offer her one piece of advice, “Please, just don’t stuff the check into the chair!”
