Minnesota Lottery players wasted no time to claim their Raffle prizes in the new year. The highly anticipated Minnesota Millionaire Raffle winning numbers were announced bright and early at 5 a.m. on New Year’s Day and the first prize was claimed shortly after that.
In the first week of January, nearly two-thirds of all 15,677 Raffle prizes have been claimed, including both $1 million top prizes, four of five $100,000 prizes and three of five $50,000 prizes.
Check out the stories below from some of the winners who were lucky enough to snag a Raffle win this year.
“Just One Ticket” to Win $100,000
This lucky lady has wanted to take part in the Raffle game for a couple of years but never got the chance because tickets always sold out before she could get one. This year however, she bought “just one ticket” for the chance to dream and on New Year’s Day she discovered her dream became a reality when her ticket was worth $100,000. Her plans? “I’m going to buy a new car and then save most of it!” – maybe for a rainy day!
Grandma’s Advice Leads to $1 Million Win
The $1 million winner who purchased his ticket in Nowthen is also a first-time Raffle player. “My grandma told me to play and she always has good advice,” he said. So while he was working in the area, he and his co-workers stopped at Bill’s Superette to get some Raffle tickets before they sold out. “I was the last one in line!” he said. He discovered his big win on New Year’s Day and one of the first calls he made was to his grandma. “She thought I was pulling her leg!” he said. He’s looking forward to paying off his mortgage, investing and seeing what happens with the rest.
$100,000 Winner Pads Retirement Fund
A gentleman who recently retired is looking forward to having a “little extra for retirement” thanks to a $100,000 Raffle win!
He said he had no intention of buying a Raffle ticket when making a stop at the c-store but when the customer in front of him purchased a ticket, he thought he’d better buy two.
He checked his Raffle ticket on our new mobile app on New Year’s Day and when he received the “It’s a Big One!” message, he knew it was the real deal. He arrived the next day (Jan. 2) to claim his prize.
$30 in Playbacks Turns into $1 Million Win
The $1 million winning ticket that was sold at Casey’s General Store was claimed by a gentleman who went in the C-store to redeem a $30 winner from Progressive Print-N-Play, but when he noticed there was less than twenty-five percent of tickets remaining in the Raffle, he bought three $10 Raffle tickets instead. He checked his ticket on the lottery app on New Year’s Day. “I was curious how the app would handle this, and it did not disappoint,” he said, after receiving the $1 million winner message. He summed up his win, saying, “This is perfect.”
Congratulations to all of our lucky winners. We look forward to continuing the Raffle tradition again next fall. Stay tuned for more details as we get closer.
Do you have a Raffle story to share? If so we’d love to hear about it. Enter our Share Your Lottery Story free monthly contest and you could win a lottery T-shirt and $25 in Share scratch tickets.