Illinois Giving Away Millions In Vax Lottery, Here’s The Schedule
If you've gotten the COVID-19 vaccination, you probably did it to protect yourself from contracting the coronavirus, expecting no reward whatsoever beyond virus avoidance.
And, truth be told, given the odds of a lottery win, that's probably all you'll get out of being vaccinated. However, nobody plays the lottery because they think the odds of winning are in their favor, and that's maybe how we should look at Illinois' vaccine lottery. There's a pile of money and scholarships up for grabs, and who knows, you might win.
Here's what the state is promising to vaccinated Illinoisans, and when they plan to do it.
There's a total of $10 million in cash and college scholarships, with $7 million earmarked for vaccinated Illinois adults (age 18 and up), and $3 million in college funding for the vaccinated under-18 demographic (ages 12 to 17 to be exact).
People from both age groups are eligible if they've received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in Illinois, other than a federal facility.
The first drawings for the adult cash payout and the youth scholarships will happen on July 8th, with one million-dollar winner chosen and three $150,000 scholarships to be handed out.
Starting on July 12th and running through August 16th, three adult winners of $100,000 cash prizes will be chosen every Monday from a statewide pool.
On August 12th, Twenty-two winners from a regional drawing will be picked, with two adults who live in each of the 11 Restore Illinois regions being awarded $100,000 each.
Then, what the state is calling their "Grand Finale" will take place on August 26th, when two $1,000,000 cash prizes go out to winners chosen from the statewide pool mentioned earlier.
As part of the grand finale, 17 prizes go out to the under-18 age group. 11 young people, from the eleven Restore Illinois regions will each be given a $150,000 scholarship, and 6 people from the statewide pool will also walk away with a $150K scholarship.
And that's how it's all supposed to happen. For those of you who haven't been vaccinated, there's still the regular lottery, albeit with slightly longer odds.