Montanans pick up top raffle prize
A customer at the Missoula bar where David Adler works told him about North Idaho College’s annual raffle a few months ago.
The thought of winning a brand new home or any of the other big prizes up for grabs persuaded the Montana man to go in on 10 tickets – at $100 a piece – with friend and betting partner Dave Larson.
It paid off.
Adler, Larson and family members erupted in screams and cheers after NIC Foundation Executive Director Rayelle Anderson announced Wednesday night that Adler had won the top prize – a 3,400-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom home in Post Falls built by students in the NIC carpentry department.
The two are the first grand prize winners to be present at the drawing in the 14-year history of the North Idaho College’s Really BIG Raffle.
Sponsored by the NIC Foundation, the annual raffle is the foundation’s largest fundraiser, with a house and other big cash awards ranging from $250 to $20,000 rounding out the prize list. All 5,000 $100-tickets sold, the 14th time in as many years the drawing has sold out.
This year’s raffle netted $185,000 for NIC, Anderson said.
Adler and Larson traveled to Coeur d’Alene for the drawing with Adler’s wife, Kerrie, and children Kian and Kendall.
“This is going to make our lives so much easier. It’s like winning the lottery,” said Kerrie Adler, a professor at the University of Montana.
When asked what they plan to do with the home, Larson flashed a business card given to him just minutes earlier by local real estate agents Randy and Claudia Childress.
“Sell it,” he said grinning. “Unless we can trade it for a beach house.”
Larson and Adler enjoy placing bets and gambling and do so often, Larson said. But their last big win was years ago – $6,000 over a Super Bowl bet, Larson said. A $300,000 house sure beats that, he said.
The Adlers own lake property in the area and will use their money from the house sale to build a house there, they said. David Adler said he’ll likely cut back on work. Along with bartending, he does freelance accounting work.
“I’ll probably give up a shift,” he said.
Adler and Larson’s win capped an anticipation-filled evening that saw about 2,000 ticket holders gather in Fort Sherman Park on the NIC campus to see if their ticket would be drawn. A groan went out when Anderson announced a Montana man as the winner of the grand prize, but Adler and Larson’s celebratory hoots quickly drowned it out.
“I was hoping my daughter would win the house,” said Anne Hogue, who bought tickets for the first time this year. “But I’m happy for who won. The money went to the school.”
Kerrie Adler knows of at least two people who may be disappointed. She had tried to get her parents to go in on her husband and Larson’s ticket pool. They declined and bought one on their own.
“Now they’re going to be really disappointed,” she said.
But the winners’ joy could overshadow any family jealousy.
“It’s, like, insane,” said a near giddy Larson.