'I Got Lucky': $250K Vaccine Lottery Winner Claims Prize

OLYMPIA, WA — The first major prize in Washington's vaccine lottery has been awarded, and the winner came forward Thursday to formally claim his check. The winner, who told officials he wished only to be identified as Lance R., also released a written statement encouraging more Washingtonians to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

His statement reads:

"I got lucky. Mainly, I was lucky that I didn't get hit with Covid before the vaccines were developed and available. Millions around the world haven't had such good luck. Getting the phone call yesterday that I won the big prize in this week's Washington vaccine lottery is also about luck. Icing on the cake. Totally unexpected. But if you haven't gotten vaccinated yet, especially when it is so easy now to do, you're taking a very high risk gamble. You can't count on your luck holding out. Besides, the shots are free. There will be 3 more lucky Washington winners of this letter over the next 3 weeks, and then on July 13, someone who is vaccinated will be even luckier than I am today and win a million dollars. Just for doing the right thing. For yourself, for those who care for you, and for the whole community that we're all part of, let's get ourselves vaccinated. To top it off, you might just win a lot of money."

Gov. Jay Inslee announced Washingon's lottery promotion last week as the central piece in a package of incentives intended to help carry the state past its vaccination goalpost and reopen early. The weekly drawings take place each Tuesday morning through June 29, before a final drawing with a $1 million prize scheduled for July 13. Funding for the more than $2 million in prizes comes from federal relief money appropriated by the legislature.

While it's too soon to tell if the effort will be enough to get reopened before June 30, the governor said Wednesday that early signs were positive.

"We have seen an uptick in appointments for vaccinations since the lottery went into effect," Inslee said. "Monday saw the largest single-day number of vaccine appointments booked over the last two weeks."

According to the state vaccination dashboard, Washington is approaching the 64 percent mark for residents 16 and older having at least one dose. Accounting for separate data from the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs, the actual total was closer to 66.4 percent, Inslee said. That metric needs to hit 70 percent to trigger a reopening earlier than June 30.

On top of this week's big winner, another 248 Washingtonians were selected to receive smaller prizes, ranging from free camping trips to video game consoles and coveted sports tickets. Anyone who has received a dose of any COVID-19 vaccine in Washington is automatically eligible to win prizes in the next four drawings. The winning numbers are randomly selected by the lottery, then matched with a corresponding name from the state's immunization database by the Department of Health.

Here are the dates for the next four drawings:

• Tuesday, June 15 ($250K + other prizes/youth tuition)
  • Winners contacted between June 16 and June 18
• Tuesday, June 22 ($250K + other prizes/youth tuition)
  • Winners contacted between June 23 and June 25
• Tuesday, June 29 ($250K + other prizes)
  • Winners contacted between June 30 and July 2
• Tuesday, July 13 ($1 million grand prize + remaining prizes)
  • Grand prize winner contacted by the next day

Check out Lance's letter, provided by the Washington State Lottery, below: