March 21, 2011

The Hunt for Million Dollar Raffle Winning Tickets

On Friday, March 18, 2011, a West Greenwich woman claimed a $10,000 prize from this year’s Million Dollar Raffle Game – and she could not have been more surprised!  After this year’s Grand Drawing on New Year’s Eve, players could fill out and send in non-winning tickets for a chance to attend the Million Dollar Raffle Extravaganza. More than 65,000 tickets were mailed in.

After this event, Rhode Island Lottery staff began the long process of checking each “non-winning” ticket that was mailed in to ensure players did not mistakenly send in any “winning” tickets. So far, two $500 winning tickets were discovered, along with the most recent discovery of this $10,000 winning ticket, which was purchased from Strikers Bar & Grill in Coventry.  When the West Greenwich woman was contacted by Lottery personnel and notified of her win, she assumed it was a prank being pulled by one of her friends; and she still had her doubts until she came to the Lottery on Friday and had her check in hand.

It’s been almost three months since the Grand Drawing, and multiple prizes are still unclaimed. In addition to the three discovered by Lottery staff, there are still twenty-two outstanding prizes yet to be claimed.  They include one $10,000 prize, two $5,000 prizes, four $1,000 prizes, and fifteen $500 prizes.  The Lottery is continuing its process of examining the tickets sent in, and players are encouraged to check any tickets they may have to see if they, too, might have a prize coming!