As the end of the year approaches, it marks the return of a widely popular Virginia Lottery tradition: the 2022 New Year’s Millionaire Raffle.
VA Lottery officials pitch the annual raffle as “Virginia’s best odds to become a millionaire.”
Will you be one of the four new millionaires come Jan. 1, 2022?
First, you have to buy a ticket for the 2022 New Year’s Millionaire Raffle. And thankfully, there are a few different ways to do that.
- 50% Up to $100 on Deposit
- 20 Free Games on Sign Up
- Use Code: PLAYVA
How to play: 2022 New Year’s Millionaire Raffle
Tickets for the 2022 New Year’s Millionaire Raffle went on sale beginning Nov. 2. Once they’re sold out, as they have every year since the raffle’s 2007 debut, that’s it. Officials will print no more.
Each New Year’s Millionaire Raffle raffle ticket costs $20.
As far as lottery games go, this one is no doubt on the pricier side of things. However, plenty of Virginia Lotto players are happy and eager to plunk down $20 for a shot at a million-dollar grand prize.
Simply purchase your raffle ticket at any of the 5,000 VA Lotto retailers. You can also purchase tickets at any VA Lottery self-service machine (as I did in 2021 during a Rosie’s Gaming Emporium trip). Unfortunately, raffle tickets are not available for purchase online.
On Jan. 1, officials will draw the winning numbers. If your ticket matches one of the drawn numbers, you win.
And here are the prizes for the 2022 New Year’s Millionaire Raffle:
- 4 winners: $1 million (1 in 125,000 chance)
- 6 winners: $100,000 (1 in 83,333)
- 500 winners: $500 (1 in 980)
Check out the 2021 raffle winners to see the format of the game and how the winning numbers are listed.
Yes, the New Year’s raffle will sell out
As of Monday, hopeful millionaires had purchased more than 80,000 raffle tickets, or roughly 16.6% of the total allotment. However, expect sales to be brisk in the coming weeks.
Lottery retailers will sell out of the 2022 New Year’s Millionaire Raffle tickets, after all.
In fact, for the 2021 raffle, lottery officials expanded the total number of available raffle tickets from 375,000 to 500,000 – and they still sold out. And because of the way the raffle is structured with fixed odds and prizes, officials won’t issue more of them.
In recent years, retailers sold out of raffle tickets by Christmas Day. So if you’re thinking of using a raffle ticket for a holiday gift or stocking stuffer, don’t wait too long. Not even Santa can pull strings to get a ticket once they’re sold out.
And, whether it’s raffle tickets or the Virginia Lottery’s popular scratch-off games, don’t forget the golden rules of lottery gift-giving:
- Play responsibly.
- Lottery games are not for minors.
