Yakima Man Claims 2nd $250,000 Vaccine Lottery Prize

OLYMPIA, WA — The second vaccinated person to win $250,000 in Washington's weekly "Shot of a Lifetime" drawings came forward to claim his prize Thursday at the lottery's regional office in Yakima. Lottery officials said the winner asked to be identified only as Dillon T. and was not interested in doing interviews.

Tuesday's drawing had 251 prizes up for grabs for vaccinated adults, along with a full year of tuition available for 15 youth winners, ages 12 to 17. The latest winners were chosen randomly among 3,963,828 adults and 212,578 youths listed in the state immunization database Tuesday.

As of Thursday afternoon, 116 adult winners had claimed their prizes, along with four of the youth winners. The person associated with each winning number has just 72 hours to claim their prize after the state's first attempt to contact them. Unclaimed prizes will be added to the cache for the final drawing on July 13, which also boasts a $1 million cash prize. During the first drawing, 103 prizes went unclaimed, officials said.

Related: Washington Announces 2nd Vaccine Lottery Program For Military

The Washington State Lottery shared a few tips this week to make sure people do not miss out on their winnings:

• Officials calling from the lottery will most often have a 253 area code, but some phones will have a 564 number — the state's newest area code. Official prize emails will originate only from an address ending in "@doh.wa.gov."
• Winners have 72 hours to claim their prize, and the clock starts ticking as soon as the first call attempt happens. As the deadline nears, officials will also attempt to text winners, and send an e-mail if their address is on file.
• Washingtonians seeking help verifying that their vaccination records are in the state's database can call the COVID-19 hotline at 1-833-VAX-HELP.
• Beware of scammers: The state received some reports of scammers posing as lottery officials. The Attorney General's office shared several tips to avoid scammers Monday and encourages anyone suspicious of a call, text, or e-mail to contact the Washington State Lottery at 360-810-2888 to verify authenticity.

Here are the dates for the three remaining drawings:

• 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