Cocolalla couple spins way to big win

Standing there in front of the "Big Wheel" on Thursday, Jay Kassebaum still wasn't sure if his wife believes they won an Idaho Lottery game.

"I told the wife 'OK, we gotta go to Boise because we just won a Big Spin," Kassebaum recounted Thursday shortly before he took his turn on the wheel to see what his total prize would be. "We have to go spin the big wheel. And honestly, we're standing here in front of it, and I don't think she still believes me."

A Cocolalla resident, Kassebaum won $50,000, as did a duo from Boise who also took a shot at a winning Big Spin on Thursday. Like Kassebaum, Christopher Long and Crystal Booker won $50,000 in prize winnings.

Kassebaum had picked up the scratch game because it was new and looked interesting. His wife enjoys spinning games during their occasional trip to the casino and he thought it would be fun.

It took a few weeks after they bought the ticket to make it to the store to see if they could tell them what they'd won. They got busy and it wasn't a priority.

"You don't really think, 'Oh, I need to go check this, I won, you know," Kassebaum said. "You definitely don't think 'We might have won big.' You know, I definitely didn't think that it was just like, 'Yeah, OK, let's go check the ticket.'"

Like the Kassebaums, the store's employees weren't sure what they'd won either and told them they'd need to contact the Lottery office. So, while his wife was in the store during a recent trip to Coeur d'Alene for errands, Jay Kassebaum called the Lottery office

A retired U.S. Air Force veteran, Kassebaum knew he had a winning ticket shortly after the Idaho Lottery’s first Big Spin winner — Lonnie Dahl of Priest River — spun his way to big money on Aug. 2.

Due to some previously arranged travel commitments, Kassebaum set up his Big Spin date in Boise on his return trip from the United States south, stopping along the way home to collect his $50,000 prize winnings from the Big Spin wheel.

“We really took the scenic route to get here,” Kassebaum told Idaho Lottery officials after traveling nearly 4,000 miles through three time zones to make his Big Spin appearance in Boise.

Kassebaum said the couple didn't have any plans for the money.

"My wife keeps telling me you can't count your chickens before they hatch and so I keep telling her that 'OK, well, we're gonna find out how many eggs we can buy so we can start counting chickens. I told her I guess we're buying eggs," Kassebaum joked before adding seriously. "No, we really don't have any plans for it at this time."

For the day's other lucky Big Spin winners, their trip to $50,000 began with the desire to go out to breakfast. After texting several friends and family members, Christopher Long had no takers. However, his brother eventually replied that his girlfriend, Crystal Booker, was interested in going. On his way to pick her up, Long stopped at the Jacksons on Ustick and Maple Grove and purchased a collection of scratch tickets, including about 10 Big Spin tickets.

“I got to their place and offered Crystal her choice of a ticket. She won $100 on one of them. Feeling lucky, we divvied up the Big Spin tickets. My ticket won the digital spin. We took it to the store to find out how much it had won. Since Crystal had been lucky already, I gave it to her to cash in. We decided in the store we would split whatever we won,” Long said.

After learning they had won a Big Spin for a chance to win up to $100,000, Christopher bought another few scratch tickets and won $500 on one of those.

The two eventually did make it to breakfast.

“It was an all-around, lucky day!” he added. “I felt like I was still dreaming and that I hadn’t woken up yet.”

Kassebaum’s winning ticket was sold at Westmond Chevron in Sagle. For selling the winning ticket, Westmond receives a bonus from the Idaho Lottery of $5,000.

The Big Spin went on sale in mid-July and is already more than half sold. Idaho Lottery officials said there are three Big Spin event winning tickets remaining in the game.