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.

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.

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