Pennsylvania Lottery Launches New Game

MIDDLETOWN, Pennsylvania – (PRESS RELEASE) -- Millionaire Raffle, a groundbreaking new game developed by the Pennsylvania Lottery, will create four new millionaires on New Year's Eve.

Millionaire Raffle tickets go on sale Tuesday, Nov. 22, at more than 8,000 Lottery retailers throughout the state. Each of the game's $20 tickets will offer a 1-in-125,000 chance of winning $1 million. Those are the best odds ever offered by the Pennsylvania Lottery for winning a $1 million prize.

Only 500,000 tickets will be sold.

"Like any raffle, the Pennsylvania Lottery's Millionaire Raffle will offer a limited number of tickets," said Lottery Executive Director Edward Mahlman. "When the tickets are gone, they're gone."

Because Millionaire Raffle tickets will be sold over a five-week period, Mahlman urged players to sign their tickets and keep them in safe place until the New Year's Eve drawing.

Millionaire Raffle will also offer five $100,000 cash prizes and 500 $1,000 cash prizes, for a total of 509 prizes worth $5 million. The winning raffle numbers will be randomly selected at 7 p.m. on Dec. 31.

Each Millionaire Raffle ticket will contain a unique, eight-digit raffle number issued sequentially across the Commonwealth from the Lottery's central computer, starting with raffle number 00000001. The last raffle ticket issued for the game will contain the raffle number 00500000. When the last raffle number is issued, the game will be closed and no additional tickets will be available for purchase.

The Lottery's live drawing show on New Year's Eve will televise the selection of the four $1 million top-prize raffle tickets and the five $100,000 second-prize raffle tickets. The 500 $1,000 winning raffle tickets will be selected, but will not be displayed due to time constraints. A complete list of all 509 winning raffle tickets will be available by 8 p.m., New Year's Eve, at Lottery retailers, as well as on the Lottery's web site at http://www.palottery.com.

The tickets will be selected by a random number generator certified by Gaming Laboratories International, the world's premier gaming products and systems testing company.

The eight-digit raffle number printed on the ticket must match the eight- digit raffle number combination selected in the drawing - in the exact sequence in which it was selected - to be considered a winning ticket and to be entitled to a Millionaire Raffle prize.

Odds of winning a $1 million top prize are 1-in-125,000; odds of winning a $100,000 prize are 1-in-100,000 and the odds of winning $1,000 are 1-in-1,000.