EVERETT — Hans and Margaret Stampfli of Marysville collected $1 million from Washington’s Lottery new Raffle game on Friday.
The couple, both 29, have two children and are expecting their third in a few weeks.
They could hardly believe their luck as they met state lottery officials at a strip mall in Everett to pick up their winnings.
“I’m going to pay the mortgage, pay all of our student loans, of course, and I don’t know what else yet,” Hans Stampfli said. “We’re still trying to come to grips with the fact that it’s actually…”
“Real,” Margaret Stampfli interjected.
“Yeah,” he said. “That’s probably the best way to phrase it.”
When Hans Stampfli compared his winning ticket — No. 001857— against the drawing results Thursday night, he thought he was reading the numbers incorrectly.
“Maybe the stress is getting to me,” he recalling thinking.
The young father works full time as a legal assistant at Washington Mutual’s Seattle headquarters.
He’s spent the past four years taking night classes at Seattle University School of Law and is studying for the state bar exam, which he plans to take this summer.
Looking for a few fresh sets of eyes, he walked to his mother’s house nearby, where his sister happened to be visiting.
They looked at the numbers. Sure enough, it was a winner.
“There was a lot of shouting and people getting picked up,” Hans Stampfli said.
He bought the winning ticket at the Safeway store at 1258 State Avenue in Marysville.
He also bought a raffle ticket as a birthday gift for his father-in-law.
He debated for a moment which ticket he would give away.
Stampfli said he plays the lottery game about once a week.
Washington’s Lottery Raffle game is different than scratcher or lotto games.
On May 4, a maximum of 375,00 tickets went on sale for $20 apiece.
By Thursday, 230,647 were sold.
Washington’s State Lottery claims the raffle offers better odds for winning $1 million than any of its games.
It has three guaranteed $1 million winners — which in Thursday’s drawing meant one in 76,882 tickets were $1 million winners.
Additionally there are four guaranteed $100,000 winners and 350 $1,000 winners.
At least 25 percent of the Stampflis windfall will likely be paid in taxes, a Lottery spokeswoman said.
Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.
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