Usually, when you have a birthday, people give you presents. But the Virginia Lottery is reversing the process. For its 20th birthday, the Lottery is giving away $1 million to a lucky player.
The Lottery’s 20th Birthday Raffle will run for just 19 days: from September 1 through September 19, 2008. On September 20, one ticket will be drawn for the top prize. The lucky player with that ticket will win $1 million, to be paid in annual installments over 20 years.
Three more lucky winners will each receive $20,000. An additional 2,000 tickets will each win $20. Each 20th Birthday Raffle ticket costs $5.
“This is the third raffle for the Virginia Lottery, and the first priced at $5,” said Virginia Lottery Executive Director Paula I. Otto. “Both players and our retail partners tell us they really like the raffle games, so we are excited to deliver this special 20th birthday ticket.”
There is no limit to the number of tickets that can be sold for the raffle, so the chances of winning depend on the total number sold. Players can see how many tickets have been sold up to the time of their purchase by simply checking the ticket number: the first ticket sold will be #0000001, and so on.
