Illinois lottery launches St. Patrick's Day raffle

CHICAGO, Illinois – (PRESS RELEASE) -- Even though the Chicago Bears didn't win the Super Bowl, the residents of Illinois still have something good to cheer about. That's because, today, the Illinois Lottery is releasing a limited run of only 500,000 tickets for its "St. Patrick's Day Millionaire Raffle." Featuring the best odds of becoming a millionaire for any Illinois Lottery game, "Millionaire Raffle" will create four new millionaires on St. Patrick's Day, while five more players will walk away with $100,000.

The "St. Patrick's Day Millionaire Raffle" offers the best odds of becoming a millionaire for of any Illinois Lottery game and tickets are expected to sell quickly. When the Florida Lottery held a similar raffle, 250,000 tickets were sold in the first day -- half of the total tickets available for sale in Illinois. That's why the Illinois Lottery will update illinoislottery.com multiple times each day to let players know how many tickets remain.

In total, the raffle will create 509 winners: four win $1 million, five win $100,000 and 500 will win $1,000. The odds of winning $1 million are one in 125,000, the best of any Lottery game, and one in 982 raffle players will win a prize of $1000 or more.

"With Super Bowl fever winding down, the Illinois Lottery is giving Illinoisans something new to look forward to," said Illinois Lottery Superintendent Carolyn Adams. "This year, anyone can have the luck of the Irish on St. Patrick's Day."

Tickets cost $20 and will be sold in sequential order at all Lottery retailers. A computerized drawing on St. Patrick's Day (March 17) will randomly select the 509 winners. Winning raffle numbers will be available on illinoislottery.com after the drawing.