Ohio's new vaccine lottery will give away $1 million prizes, full-ride college scholarships
Free beer? Pssh. Free baseball tickets? Not good enough. A free $1 million? That works.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) announced on Wednesday that residents 18 and over who get vaccinated will be eligible to win $1 million, through the state's new "Ohio Vax-a-Million" program. The lottery will start May 26, and every Wednesday for five weeks, a person will be selected to take home $1 million. The winners will be pulled from the Ohio Secretary of State's voter registration database, The Columbus Dispatch reports.
The drawings will be conducted by the Ohio Lottery, with the money coming from existing federal coronavirus relief funds. Before you pack up and move to Cleveland, know the rules: to be eligible, a person must be an Ohio resident and vaccinated prior to the drawing.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
There's also an incentive to get teenagers vaccinated — the program is giving away five full-ride public college scholarships, covering tuition, books, and room and board to young people who get their COVID-19 shots. Beginning May 18, 12- to 17-year-olds can sign up online for the scholarship drawing.
So far, about 4.88 million Ohio residents have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine — and if this new lottery incentive works, expect that number to go up, fast.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
4 tips for hosting an ecofriendly Thanksgiving
The Week Recommends Coming together for the holidays typically produces a ton of waste, but with proper preparation, you can have an environmentally friendly gathering.
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
Jussie Smollet conviction overturned on appeal
Speed Read The Illinois Supreme Court overturned the actor's conviction on charges of staging a racist and homophobic attack against himself in 2019
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
What might happen if Trump eliminates the Department Of Education?
Today's Big Question The president-elect says the federal education agency is on the chopping block
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
ACA opens 2025 enrollment, enters 2024 race
Speed Read Mike Johnson promises big changes to the Affordable Care Act if Trump wins the election
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
McDonald's sued over E. coli linked to burger
Speed Read The outbreak has sickened at least 49 people in 10 states and left one dead
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Texas dairy worker gets bird flu from infected cow
Speed Read The virus has been spreading among cattle in Texas, Kansas, Michigan and New Mexico
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Dengue hits the Americas hard and early
Speed Read Puerto Rico has declared an epidemic as dengue cases surge
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US bans final type of asbestos
Speed Read Exposure to asbestos causes about 40,000 deaths in the U.S. each year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Seattle Children's Hospital sues Texas over 'sham' demand for transgender medical records
Speed Read Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton subpoenaed records of any Texan who received gender-affirming care at the Washington hospital
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Afghanistan has a growing female suicide problem
Speed Read The Taliban has steadily whittled away women's and girls' rights in Afghanistan over the past 2 years, prompting a surge in depression and suicide
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US life expectancy rose in 2022 but not to pre-pandemic levels
Speed Read Life expectancy is slowly crawling back up
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published