Ohio Lottery conducts first of five Vax-a-Million drawings

Winner announcement set for 7:29 p.m. Wednesday.

The Ohio Lottery conducted the first of five drawings Monday at its studio in Cleveland for a $1 million prize and a full, four-year college scholarship as part of the state’s Vax-a-Million campaign.

The drawings aim to increase awareness and encourage Ohioans to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Winners will be announced on Wednesday.

Here’s what you should know about the drawings:

What are the prizes?

The Ohio Vax-a-Million campaign will award five $1 million prizes and five full college scholarships to Ohioans 12 and older who have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

Ohioans 18 and older will be eligible for a $1 million prize and residents 12 to 17 will be eligible for a scholarship.

Scholarships will cover room and board, tuition and books for four years at any Ohio state college, university or technical or trade school. The winners of the scholarships will choose which school they attend. However, winning the scholarship does not guarantee admission to any school.

Winners of the million dollar prize will be responsible for paying any related taxes.

When is the drawing?

The first drawing is scheduled for today, May 24.

The Ohio Lottery is using a random number generator to select winners, which is a computer that randomly picks a winner and alternates for each drawing.

While the public will not be able to watch the drawing, a representative from the Ohio Auditor’s Office will be present.

A lottery staff member will input the universal number, which is based off the number of entrants in the drawing. Prior to each drawing, the state will go through entries to remove duplicates.

Once the computer selects a winning number, it’s entered into the database to reveal the winner. Then the lottery draw staff and representative from the auditor’s office both sign off on the drawing.

The next drawing is scheduled for Memorial Day, May 31.

Drawings will take place each Monday, with the final drawing slated for June 21.

For a behind the scenes look at random number generator drawings, view the video from the Ohio Lottery below:

When will the winners be announced?

The first winners of the $1 million prize and college scholarship will be announced on Wednesday, May 26.

Winners will be named on TV at 7:29 p.m. and online at https://ohiovaxamillion.com/prizes-schedule.html.

Additional winners will be announced on June 2, June 9, June 16 and June 23.

The Ohio Department of Health will use the time between the drawing and naming of the winners to verify that the winners are valid entrants and meet the campaign’s rules. If a winner rejects the prize or is not eligible, the state will select the first alternate and so on until a valid winner is found.

How do you sign up?

To sign up, visit https://ohiovaxamillion.com/index.html and select “Adult Registration” for the $1 million drawing or “12-17 Year Old Registration” for the college scholarship drawing.

Participants can also call the Ohio Department of Health at 1-833-4-ASK-ODH between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. to register.

To be eligible to win, entrants must be a permanent Ohio resident and U.S. citizen with who has received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine the Sunday prior to the drawing date. Participants must be 12 or older.

Entrants do not need to have been vaccinated in Ohio to be eligible, however, ODH may ask for proof of vaccination.

Eligible residents can only enter once. If you are not selected, your entry will automatically carry over to the next drawing.

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