Most state lottery raffle games sold out

Dec 30, 2006, 12:18 am (20 comments)

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Around the United States, Christmastime raffle games have become the hottest ticket of the year, with most of the game tickets selling out well before the drawing date.

The raffle games are loosely modeled after the largest lottery game in the world, Spain's El Gordo, which gives back an unusually large 70% of all proceeds in the form of prizes, and makes many instant millionaires.

Unlike traditional lotto-style games, a fixed number of tickets are sold for raffle games, and the prizes are fixed amounts. 

Most United States raffle games award one or more million-dollar prizes as well as several smaller prizes.

The raffle games in the United States are drawn on or around New Year's Eve, or within the first weeks of the year.

Lottery Post will list the results for each game after the drawings take place.

New Jersey 

There are no tickets left for New Jersey's "Million Dollar New Year" lottery drawing.

The winning numbers will be drawn at approximately 2 p.m. on Sunday at Lottery Headquarters in Trenton.

A half million tickets were sold, creating what the Lottery Commission says is the best odds ever for players to win $1 million. Each $20 ticket offers a 1-in-125,000 chance to win the top prize. There are more than 500 other prizes ranging from $100,000 to $500.

Delaware

Anyone who hasn't bought a ticket yet for the Delaware Lottery's first-ever raffle is, well, out of luck.

The last of 100,000 available tickets — at $10 each — was sold at 5:24 p.m. Friday.

An 8 p.m. drawing is set for New Year's Eve, with winners to be picked for the top prize of $250,000, five others of $25,000 and 250 of $500 apiece.

All prizes are guaranteed to be awarded, unlike regular lottery games in which prizes roll over when no one selects the numbers drawn, according to Lottery Director Wayne Lemons.

Odds of winning are 1 in 391, which Lemons called "the best odds offered by the Delaware Lottery for prizes this size."

Sales of the $10 chances got off to a slow start last month, but took off before Christmas — when buyers used them as gifts.

They were selling at a rate of about 50 per minute just before the sellout, spokesman Jason Cooke said.

Minnesota

The Minnesota State Lottery said Tuesday that the last ticket for the Minnesota Millionaire Raffle had been sold. Only 500,000 tickets were available.

Winning tickets for the two $1 million prizes will be announced Jan. 1. There will also be four $100,000 prizes, four $25,000 prizes and 100 $500 prizes.

Odds of winning a top prize are 1 in 250,000.

Pennsylvania

Tickets for the Pennsylvania Lottery's Dec. 30 Millionaire Raffle sold out in less than five weeks.

Sales of Millionaire Raffle tickets began on Nov. 21 and were to continue for six weeks until Dec. 30, or until all 625,000 tickets were sold. The last Millionaire Raffle ticket was sold Dec. 22 at 1:49 p.m. at Kuhn's Market, 3125 Banksville Rd., Pittsburgh.

"We're thrilled that players continue to enjoy this unique, raffle-style lottery game," said Acting Lottery Executive Director Ed Trees. "The Pennsylvania Lottery's third Millionaire Raffle will create five new millionaires on Dec. 30."

Millionaire Raffle features 760 cash prizes totaling $6.25 million. The game will award five $1 million top prizes, five $100,000 second prizes, and 750 third-tier prizes of $1,000.

The raffle drawing will be held during the Lottery's live, 7 p.m. drawing on Dec. 30, and the selection of the five $1 million top-prize raffle ticket numbers and the five $100,000 second-prize raffle ticket numbers will be televised.

Trees reminded Millionaire Raffle players to sign the backs of their tickets and keep them in a safe place until the Dec. 30 drawing. The eight- digit raffle number printed on Millionaire Raffle tickets must match the eight-digit raffle ticket number combination selected in the drawing — in the exact sequence in which it was selected — to be considered a winning ticket.

All winning tickets will be selected by a random number generator — or automated drawing machine — certified by Gaming Laboratories International, a gaming products and systems testing company.

Trees noted that the success of the third Millionaire Raffle has already created thousands of winners throughout Pennsylvania.

"Sales for the two Millionaire Raffle games this year — the July 4 raffle and the December raffle — have generated more than $10.6 million for programs that benefit older Pennsylvanians," said Trees.

Lottery-supported programs include PACE and PACENET, which provide prescription drug assistance; property tax and rent rebates; free and reduced- fare mass transit rides; and a statewide network of 52 area agencies on aging and more than 650 full- and part-time senior centers.

The odds of winning a $1 million top prize are 1-in-125,000; odds of winning a $100,000 prize are 1-in-125,000 and odds of winning $1,000 are 1-in- 833. The overall odds of winning any Millionaire Raffle prize are 1-in-822.

Michigan

They're gone! The 500,000 Millionaire Raffle tickets sold out in about one week by players hoping to win $1 million.

500,000 Millionaire Raffle tickets went on sale Sunday, November 12, 2006 were quickly snatched up by Lottery players.

"The rapid sell-out is just what we expected from this new game. We are thrilled that Michigan Lottery players were so excited about the best odds to win $1 million." said Lottery Commissioner Gary Peters.

Millionaire Raffle has five prizes of $1 million; 10 prizes of $100,000; and 750 prizes of $1,000.

The Millionaire Raffle drawing will be conducted on January 3, 2007 when 765 lucky numbers will be drawn. The five $1 million winners will be announced during the Lottery's broadcast of the evening drawing at 7:29 pm.  Players must retain their original Millionaire Raffle ticket in order to claim their prize.

Georgia

The last Georgia Lottery Millionaire Raffle ticket has been purchased, and now players are looking forward to their best chance of any lottery game to win $1 million.

Millionaire Raffle is a limited-time game from the Georgia Lottery with four $1 million prizes. A total of 500,000 tickets were printed and sold in numeric order.

A computerized drawing on December 31, 2006, will randomly select Millionaire Raffle winners. Four tickets will win $1 million each, paid in a lump sum; five tickets will win $100,000 each; and 500 tickets will win $1,000 each.

The odds of winning any prize in the Millionaire Raffle game are 1 in 982. The odds of winning one of the four $1 million prizes are 1 in 125,000. The odds of winning one of the five $100,000 prizes are 1 in 100,000. The odds of winning one of the 500 $1,000 prizes are 1 in 1,000. Each Millionaire Raffle ticket costs $20.

Draw results for the $1 million and $100,000 prize levels will be announced during the 6:59 p.m. Cash 3 Evening drawing on December 31, 2006.

Florida

As previously reported on Lottery Post, Florida Lottery's Holiday Millionaire Raffle tickets have sold out.

At 10:33 pm Nov. 30, the last of the 1.25 million Holiday Millionaire Raffle tickets was sold.  Players who purchased tickets will need to hold on to them for the New Year's Day drawing to see who will become the Florida Lottery's first 10 millionaires in 2007.

Holiday Millionaire Raffle tickets went on sale November 20 and would have been on sale through December 30 if tickets had lasted. The 1.25 million tickets, priced at $20 each, sold in 12 days.

Still time for Hoosiers

The Indiana Lottery's Holiday Raffle game has not yet sold out.

The drawing for Holiday Raffle will take place on January 10.  Tickets went on sale October 6.

Lottery Post Staff

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Comments

ochoop17

I've have mine NJ raffle ticket. Do you have your?

Good luck and a Happy New Year!!

                                Party

Todd's avatarTodd

Yes!

DoubleDown

South Carolina also has tickets available....

four4me

tickets are still for sale in Maryland.

Seems like they are a little over half sold. According to a ticket agent i visit the drawing will still take place as scheduled.  

Knowing this i might buy a second ticket. Since the odds are reduced some.

Litebets27's avatarLitebets27

Thanks four4me, I was wondering if they would still have the drawing as planned. I think I will pickup a few more also.

litebets

Todd's avatarTodd

Both Maryland and South Carolina seem to be treating their raffles like a well-guarded secret.  I did a bunch of news searches and regular internet searches to compile the information in this news story, and I did not come upon anything from either state.  It's all about the marketing!  I know that Michigan, for example, does a pretty good job of marketing, hence the sell-out.

That would be ridiculous if Maryland couldn't sell out their raffle.  That should never happen!  (Four4me, I completely agree with you -- RUN to the store and buy more tickets if it doesn't sell out!)

CASH Only

While the article says all raffle states have a top prize of $1m, it's $250,000 in Delaware. The top prize in the Michigan raffle is annuitized.

Todd's avatarTodd

"Most United States raffle games award one or more million-dollar prizes as well as several smaller prizes."

DoubleDown

Quote: Originally posted by CASH Only on Dec 30, 2006

While the article says all raffle states have a top prize of $1m, it's $250,000 in Delaware. The top prize in the Michigan raffle is annuitized.

Hey Michigan players -- Raise some Hell with your lottery commission  !!!

The MI  lottery has all the raffle money up front- why are they offering annuities ?

DD

rdc137

Personally I think Maryland is selling too many tickets for their raffle. They are a small state and probably would've been better off selling a maximum of 300K.

four4me

Todd i think the reason for slow sales is the people who do the advertising pulled the plug about two/ three months ago. Went out of buisness or something to that effect. in either event the lottery has air time on all maryland tv and radio shows. but i only catch the add for the raffle intermitantly.

Rdc137 maryland rakes in about a 1 1/2 million bucks every day on their other games. But the advertising for this game is sparce there are limited posters and no bill boards with the raffle posted anywhere i have seen. I think they had estimated 450,000 raffle tickets. I also think they expected to sell out by way of people telling other people.

Then on the other hand they also said they wouldn't pull the numbers for this game until all tickets were sold. Who knows Buddy can change his mind as he suits. So i'll hold my breath we'll just have to wait and see. 

LckyLary

The reason a Lottery offers an annuity is obvious. It's cheaper. They could have offered a $2M annuity on the $1M cash value top prize. I have mine for nj, and when in MD & PA I didn't buy because I only wanted one and the $500 prize doesn't need to go through a Claim Form. I don't know if in PA you win $1000 it becomes about $600 after taxes or something. I am not sure how they use their RNG to pick the numbers.. what happens if the RNG picks the same # twice, does someone win two prizes or does it block the #s it already picked? Would it do it by each digit, meaning that ticket #500000 - the last one in the sale - would be almost impossible to pick? I t only makes sense it picks a random number from 1 to 500000 for each winner. I remember NY had one of these last year or so, but they gave you like 10 numbers. "Drawing date subject to change." is printed on bottom of the ticket, meaning if they don't sell all of them the drawing would be postponed until all are sold.

chasingadream's avatarchasingadream

Quote: Originally posted by rdc137 on Dec 30, 2006

Personally I think Maryland is selling too many tickets for their raffle. They are a small state and probably would've been better off selling a maximum of 300K.

i said the same thing about south carolina's raffle. SC is selling 1millions tickets.....WHY? If they'd followed in Ga's footsteps and sold them for $20 a tkt and sold half as many i think it would have sold better than it has thus far.....

Tarzan's avatarTarzan

How much are Indiana's raffle tickets and what are their prizes? Any LP members from there that wants a SC ticket for a Indiana ticket? PM me if so. Good Luck!

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