NAMPA, Idaho — Schools from all over the Treasure Valley sent teams to the Idaho Center Monday to "Scratch for Schools". That's the name of a fun event enabling adults to earn money for local school programs through the Idaho Lottery.
In its 22nd year, Idaho Lottery says the event is the biggest and most profitable ever.
Here's how it works: More than 90 schools sent teams of three to scratch off lottery tickets hoping for a mini payday. Each school gets 200 scratch tickets to scratch off as many as they can in five minutes.
"The top 14 teams get $200 automatically and then we play a heads and tails game," explains David Workman, Idaho Lottery spokesman. "The winner of that gets another $200."
And somewhere among the thousands of tickets, there's at least one automatic $500 prize. Schools usually average a few hundred dollars and put it to good use.
"We use it to pay for our field trips," says Christine Scholte, a teacher at Mt. Home East Elementary. "So, that way we have less to put on our kids and our families"
The event is so big that Idaho Lottery created a special scratch ticket just for it, which is not available in stores anywhere.
"It's a lot of fun," says Scholte. "We get to come out here and scratch tickets and earn money for our school. And what more could you ask for?"
This year's winner for fastest scratching school was East Canyon Elementary from Nampa, having scratched all 200 tickets in 500 minutes.
The big winner was Victory Charter School from Nampa, claiming $955 in prizes.
Total prizes awarded in the event totaled $30,749.
Another Scratch for Schools event in the Treasure Valley is scheduled for March 28. For schools interested in participating, please contact the Idaho Lottery.
