Friday the 13th proves lucky for former Glenns Ferry man

Elio Juarez

Friday the 13th turned into a very lucky day last month for a former Glenns Ferry resident, who won $100,000 from the Idaho Lottery.

Elio Juarez, who now lives in West Valley, Utah, purchased the lucky Win it All ticket from the Pilot Travel Center in Mountain Home on a trip while visiting his mother.

"I bought the ticket, scratched it, and saw I matched the right number, but I thought it was maybe a $1,000 winner," Juarez said. "I knew I had to come to the lottery to claim it so we could see what it really was."

At the time, he didn't believe he was a $100,000 winner.

"No way it was the big one; that doesn't happen to me," he said.

Instead, Juarez got the biggest surprise of his life. When his ticket was scanned at the lottery offices in Boise, it showed Juarez it was indeed the $100,000 winning ticket. He admitted he couldn't believe his eyes.

"That's a little more than $1,000," Juarez joked. "I guess Friday the 13th is lucky for me."

His lucky Friday became even more real when he received the actual check from the Idaho Lottery.

"Wow! Sweet," said Juarez, who added that it was still too soon to know what he was going to do with his winnings.

Friday the 13th, typically thought of as an unlucky day, is actually very lucky, according to state lottery officials. In fact, the Idaho Lottery has recorded big winners on five of the last six Friday the 13th days. The next isn't until Jan. 13, 2017.