Maryland Vaccine Lottery: Daily Winners of $40K through July 4th

May 20, Md. Gov. Hogan announces the launch of a $2 million lottery to encourage more people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.(Ovetta Wiggins/The Washington Post)

Those that have received at least one COVID-19 vaccination in the state of Maryland are automatically enrolled in a daily lottery drawing for $40,000 per the Maryland Lottery and the Maryland Department of Health.

These drawings began on May 25 and will continue through July 4; winners will receive the $40,000, except for the July 4 drawing, when the prize will be multiplied to a whopping $400,000.

So how can you become eligible to enter?

“Entry is very simple — all you have to do is get vaccinated here in Maryland, be a Maryland resident and be 18 or older,” Governor Hogan stated late last month.

Maryland Lottery and Gaming Director, Gordon Medenica, commented that the lottery drawings are to be handled anonymously, so there is need to be weary of medical information being used improperly.

“The only exclusion is if you were vaccinated at a federal facility in the state of Maryland because the federal government is not sharing that information with the Maryland Department of Health,” said Carole Gentry, the Maryland Lottery’s Managing Director of Communications, in an interview with WJZ CBS Baltimore.

Gentry advises that if you have not yet gotten vaccinated, you should do so as quickly as possible to increase likelihood of winning.

So how do you know if you won?

“The Maryland Department of Health will contact you via phone and email and ask if you consent to release information,” Gentry said. “If they don’t want it, if we can’t reach them after making great effort, we can go to an alternate. You cannot win twice.”

Maryland is not the only state that is holding this COVID-19 vaccine lottery; these lotteries are also being held in New York, California, Ohio, Oregon, Colorado, and Washington.

The promotion tactic is getting mixed responses; some see the campaign as great incentive to drive up vaccination numbers, while others view it as a waste of taxpayer money.

The Maryland Lottery’s marketing fund is allocating a total of $2,000,000 for the daily prizes.

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