Thursday was the first deadline for Massachusetts' VaxMillions giveaway, and millions of people are in the running for 10 big prizes -- the first of which will be announced next week.
Over 2 million people in Massachusetts have signed up for a chance to win either the $1 million prize or the $300,000 college scholarship from the state, officials said.
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As of Friday afternoon, 2,124,872 people have signed up for the VaxMillions drawing, including 1,989,986 adults and 134,885 between the ages of ages 12-17, according to Gov. Charlie Baker's office. Those numbers indicate that about half of all people eligible to win haven't signed up, since 4.3 million people in total have been fully vaccinated in Massachusetts and no one under 12 is yet approved to be vaccinated.
To be eligible for the drawings -- the first of which is Monday, July 26, with the announcement coming three days later, on Thursday -- participants must have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus and have registered by July 22. Anyone who hasn't yet signed up can do so to be eligible for the remaining drawings. See the VaxMillions deadlines here.
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Since five fully vaccinated adults will each win one $1 million prize, the number of people currently signed up suggest a 1 in 397,986 chance of winning, while those under 18 have a 1 in 26,977 chance.
For context, both sets of odds are much better than the 292,201,338 to 1 odds of winning the Powerball grand prize or 302.5 million to 1 odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot.
Still want to get in on the action? Fully vaccinated residents can enter the drawing at VaxMillionsGiveaway.com. For residents who do not have internet access or need assistance, there is a call center available to assist with registration. You can reach the call center by calling 211 during the following hours:
- Monday to Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Live call center workers will be available in English and Spanish, and an additional 100 languages will be available through translators.
