Arizona lottery awards Jubilee jackpot

PHOENIX, Arizona -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- Ten Arizona residents from across the state gathered today at the Arizona Lottery's $250,000 Jubilee Scratchers(TM) ticket live cash drawing hoping to draw the winning ball worth $250,000. The lucky winner was John Kallas of Peoria, a Vietnam War veteran, who shared that he spends his free time panning for gold.

"Celebrating our players with this $250,000 Jubilee winner is a great way to end our 25th Anniversary and to mark the Fourth of July," said Art Macias, executive director of the Arizona Lottery. "After all, it's our players that helped generate the nearly $2 billion in contributions back to our state. Of course, we are looking forward to the next 25 years and to generating even more billions of dollars to make Arizona a better place to live and visit."

Upon arrival to the drawing, the finalists randomly selected a drawing number and Mr. Kallas' drawing number was 1. When the drawing began, the drawing machine first randomly selected the six $25,000 winners. "When my number wasn't called as part of the first six, I was settling with the idea of not winning," said John Kallas. "But my number was the last drawn and was the $250,000 winner! I couldn't believe it!"

In addition to an instant $250,000 winner, six finalists won $25,000 each including Mary Hitchiner of Amado, Janet Peters of Glendale, Mary Klus of Mesa, Doug Scott of Mesa, Joan Handke of Phoenix and Skye Sandoval of Tempe. Three runners-up received gift bags featuring hundreds of dollars in prizes.

The $250,000 Jubilee live cash giveaway was held at ABC 15 (KNXV) studios -- transformed into a game show-style set including a live audience. The drawing aired later that night following the 6 p.m. newscast. The Arizona Lottery's special 25th Anniversary $250,000 Jubilee Scratchers(SM) ticket was launched last summer, and players have cashed in on multiple prizes including a chance to win a spot at the two "second chance" live cash drawings. Tickets with the word "Entry" on them earned the ticket-holder an entry into one of the live drawings -- one on New Year's Eve and the second on Fourth of July. More than 158,000 lucky players with the "Entry" tickets registered their tickets online, and the names of 10 finalists were drawn on June 3.