The ticket's in the mail

SANDPOINT — It isn’t unusual for people to mail in winning Idaho Lottery tickets, especially from the northern part of the state. 

Among them, Randy Branum, who gathers his tickets every month or two and sends them off to the Boise-based office for payment.

The difference this time? The Sept. 23 Powerball ticket was worth $1 million.

“I won’t tell you what it feels like when somebody tells you you’ve won a million dollars,” said Branum. “I mean, it’s just unbelievable.”

While not the first time a winning ticket has been mailed in, Idaho Lottery’s David Workman said it certainly is the first time someone has mailed in a ticket worth that much money.

“It is one of largest winning tickets ever sold in northern Idaho and certainly one of the most unusual tickets we’ve ever had here before,” he said before presenting Branum and his wife, Colleen, with a check for their winnings.

“That’s a crapload of money,” quipped Branum as he took hold of the giant souvenir check for matching the first five numbers in the Sept. 23 drawing.

Even so, he said he never doubted that the packet would arrive safely at Idaho Lottery.

“I had faith that it would get there,” he said. “I never thought that it wouldn’t get there.”

“I did,” Colleen Branum quickly added.

Branum agreed as his wife added, “Who else mails in lottery tickets?”

“This million dollar winner,” he was quick to fire back.

A regular player, Branum had been out picking up dinner and — even though his wife Colleen had placed him on a strict budget on how much he could spend on lottery tickets — he stopped in at the Waterfront Conoco and bought a quick pick, and his normal Mega Millions and Powerball tickets.

“I literally snuck down because I also come here to buy Japanese food once a week,” Branum said, as Colleen added, “That’s when he has to cook dinner.”

Branum got dinner, grabbed his tickets and headed home. He checked a few of the tickets before Colleen returned home. He then just signed the remaining tickets and slipped them in the envelope with the others, hoping he’d won a few dollars on them, and mailed the packet off just like he’d done before.

“It never entered my mind to go down there. Just mailed it in,” Randy Branum said. “Read in the paper that somebody up here had won. I was happy for somebody.”

He didn’t think anything more about it — and never thought he was the winner — until he returned home from a haircut to find a message from Idaho Lottery officials asking him to call.

“I thought I’d won the Bronco Bash,” said Branum, referring to the Idaho Lottery game where the winner receives a trip to see Boise State’s bowl game. “I was going to go to the bowl game and I was jumping for joy.”

A retired contractor and firefighter, Branum called and was stunned to learn he’d won a million dollars on one of his Powerball tickets.

At first, Colleen was suspicious it was a good friend playing a practical joke. But, after Randy checked the lottery’s website and found the caller’s name, and convinced his wife that they really had won.

“I was convinced it was a friend of ours playing a hoax on us,” said Colleen, a retired school principal.  “Once we talked to everyone at the Lottery again, though, well, I guess Santa’s coming early this year.”

Colleen Branum said she can’t think of a better person to have something like this happen to.

“We’ve kind of grown up together and he’s just a good man and he works hard,” she said, noting the couple has known each other since the fourth grade. “This is the man who draws my bath, puts the bubbles in it and then brings me a little glass of wine and a Hershey’s.”

“With almonds,” added Randy.

He even bought her a tablet so she could always have a book to read, Colleen said.

He’s just my best friend and he deserves it,” she said, adding with a laugh, “I’ll keep him around for a few more years.”

People may not understand, but while the windfall is nice, the Branums said the money won’t change their lives. They said they have no plans for the money, other than maybe sushi and new tires for his dually truck. The rest will go into “a safe, secure place.”

“My wife always has rose-colored glasses on,” he said. “I’m more the realist. There are bad things out there and this just tells me I did it right. I trusted people. There are people out there you can trust. I want people to know that. This is wonderful.

“Did it change my life? No. Before I won, my life was exceptional. After this, my life is exceptional. If money changes your life, you’re in trouble.”