Remember the Holiday Millionaire Raffle games which have been introduced for some time now by various states? They were games that were designed to allow more people to win and build the expectation until the New Year and different states were running a different version of the Holiday Raffle games.

The Kansas Lottery ran Holiday Millionaire Raffle game, giving players 10 chances to win $10,000 in Early Bird drawings. The Early Bird drawings were held October 9, 2011, through November 6, 2011, with two players each winning $10,000 in every drawing. One of the very first $10,000 Early Bird winning raffle tickets, 031432, was never claimed, that is, until now!

Cheryl Popkey of Hutchinson was the lucky winner of this prize and she did not claim it until know although she already knew she was a winner. In fact she knew she had won one of the $10,000 prizes the day after the October 9, 2011, Early Bird drawing. However, she didn’t have the opportunity to make the trip to Lottery headquarters in Topeka to claim her prize since she works second shift at Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita.

“My friend Chris and I both bought raffle tickets for the Early Bird drawings,” explained Popkey. “While we were checking the winning numbers the day after the drawing, I teased him by saying, ‘Do you have any of those winning numbers, because I do!’”

The winning ticket has been locked up in a lockbox for the last 10 months and this has given Popkey a lot of time to think what she will do with the winnings. She is planning to help her children and granddaughter.

Because of this win Popkey will be looking forward to participate in this year’s raffle too.

“Of course, I’ll play,” said Popkey. “It has the best odds to win. I like that there are only a certain amount of tickets printed, and it’s just fun to play.” Lottery winning numbers

This year’s Holiday Millionaire Raffle game will launch October 1, 2012,with the grand prize drawing taking place December 31, 2012.