Ohio governor announces $1 million lotteries over 5 weeks for vaccinated residents

OHIO -- The state of Ohio will be holding five separate $1 million lotteries for those receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

Governor Mike DeWine announced Wednesday that starting May 26, the state will announce a million-dollar winner each Wednesday for five weeks.

Participants must have received at least their first dose of the vaccine.

"The pool of names for the drawing will be derived from the Ohio Secretary of State's publicly available voter registration database," DeWine said. "Further, we will make available a webpage for people to sign up for the drawings if they are not in a database we are using."

The Ohio Department of Health will be the sponsoring agency for the drawings, and the Ohio Lottery will conduct them. DeWine says the money will come from existing federal coronavirus relief funds.

To be eligible to win, residents must be at least 18 years of age or older on the day of the drawing. Eligible participants must be an Ohio resident and must be vaccinated before the drawing.

"I know that some may say, 'DeWine, you're crazy,''' the governor tweeted. "'This million-dollar drawing idea of yours is a waste of money.' But truly, the real waste at this point in the pandemic -- when the vaccine is readily available to anyone who wants it -- is a life lost to COVID-19."