Idaho Lottery raffle winner could barely keep composure while on video

By Kate Northrop

MCCALL, Idaho — The first million-dollar winner of the Idaho Lottery's $1,000,000 Raffle had to keep his cool when he found out about the win while on a video conference call for work.

An Idaho man found out about his $1 million win in the Idaho Lottery's $1,000,000 Raffle while on video and could barely contain his excitement.

McCall resident Andrew Nachman decided to participate in the Idaho Lottery's annual raffle when tickets became available. This year, the Lottery offered two prizes of $1 million and 450,000 raffle tickets.

In 36 days, all raffle tickets in Idaho had been sold out. Nachman bought his ticket at the Maverik on North 3rd Street in McCall.

Nachman showed up as the first of two million-dollar winners, the Lottery announced on Thursday.

"My family and I had been on vacation, and I was just sitting down for a video conference call for work when I saw the ticket on my desk," Nachman told the Lottery. "It was three minutes to the call, so I checked it. When it said it was the million-dollar winner, I was convinced I had entered the number wrong. I ran downstairs and gave the ticket to my wife for her to check and then call the Lottery office."

While he ran back up to take the call, his wife decided to keep in in a bit of suspense knowing his mind would be preoccupied with whether he really did win.

"Right in the middle of my video conference call, she sends me a text that said, 'I'm sorry to inform you,' and then there was a long pause between texts...'but it is confirmed!' It was really hard to hide my excitement on the call," he continued.

With the first million-dollar prize in the raffle claimed, the Lottery said they have not yet been contacted by the player holding the other winning ticket, number 091588.

According to the Lottery, the raffle generated more than $1.5 million in revenue to benefit Idaho public schools and buildings this year.

The complete results for the Idaho Lottery's $1,000,000 Raffle can be found on the Idaho Lottery Results page at Lottery Post.