Twin Falls, Idaho (KMVT-TV) With a total of 72 schools participating and 216 participants, the Idaho Lottery is hosting the largest ever mass scratch off event. The schools will be competing to win nearly $15,000 at the College of Southern Idaho.


Scratch for Schools is the fastest five minute fundraiser for public schools in Idaho! That’s how a news release from the Idaho Lottery described the event.

Each participating school, (dressed to show their school spirit) receives 300 “Bookworm Bucks” lottery tickets for the “Mass” scratch-off as the participants scratch furiously for 5 straight minutes. It is a visual spectacle as they simultaneously race to scratch as many of the 26,000 tickets as they can. The top schools will win and scratch 900 Lottery tickets before the event is done. All schools keep all their winnings from all their tickets.

Schools use their winnings for projects like buying additional library books, reader boards, science and technology improvements, and playground safety repairs. Last year, participants across Idaho claimed $88,000 in winnings for their schools. Since the program began, Scratch for Schools has returned over $567,000 to public schools.