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Maryland launches lottery for vaccinated residents, with a $400,000 top prize

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announces a lottery promotion to encourage people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announces a lottery promotion to encourage people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. (Ovetta Wiggins/The Washington Post)

With vaccine demand dropping, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is launching a $2 million lottery that will hand out dozens of $40,000 cash prizes to state residents who have received coronavirus vaccinations — along with a grand prize of $400,000.

Hogan (R) said daily drawings for a $40,000 prize will be held from Tuesday to July 3. On July 4, the $400,000 grand prize will be awarded via a random drawing.

All state residents 18 and older who received coronavirus vaccinations in Maryland will be eligible — regardless of when the shots were administered. No registration or entry is necessary.

“That’s 40 drawings over 40 days for the chance to win $40,000 each day,” Hogan said. “Entry is very simple. . . . Get your shot for a shot to win.”

The VaxCash lottery is the latest effort by Maryland to boost vaccination as the state tries to return to pre-pandemic normalcy. It is one of the largest cash incentives a state government has offered. This month, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) announced that he would offer five $1 million prizes to vaccinated state residents, along with four-year college scholarships for five vaccinated Ohioans younger than 18.

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“Those of you who are still on the fence, there is no better time than now,” Hogan said outside the governor’s mansion in Annapolis, standing next to state lottery and health officials and a man in a Maryland lottery ball costume.

Each vaccinated Maryland resident will be randomly assigned a number in a system that will be maintained by the state Health Department, officials said. The state lottery agency will select a number each day during the promotion.

Winners will be contacted and have to provide written consent to accept the prize. They can remain anonymous but will be encouraged to share their stories.

State Lottery and Gaming Control Director Gordon Medenica called the effort “one of the most creative lottery promotions” his agency has ever done. He said officials are scrambling “on relatively short notice” to pull it together.

“This promotion is going to be good for the lottery, but much more importantly it is going to be good for the state of Maryland, because everybody is a winner if you get vaccinated,” Medenica said.

The funds for the drawing are being provided by the state lottery’s marketing fund, Hogan said.

Also on Thursday, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) said each person in New York who gets vaccinated will receive a ticket for a state lottery drawing where the top prize is $5 million.

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Statewide coronavirus metrics, which indicate the community spread of the virus and the level of severity, have continued to decline in recent weeks as vaccinations take hold. Hospitalizations are at a six-month low, according to The Washington Post tracker, the test positivity rate is about 3.2 percent, and the seven-day average of cases per 100,000 people is at 5.52, a rate last seen in Maryland in April 2020.

Virginia and the District have also seen sharp drops in hospitalizations, cases and other metrics: the seven-day average of new daily cases per 100,000 residents was 5.24 in the District on Thursday and 5.34 in Virginia.

Hogan lifted Maryland’s indoor mask mandate last week after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued guidance that fully vaccinated people could go maskless indoors — although a couple of localities are still requiring masks, and businesses may also choose to keep the mandate in place.

Masks are still required on public transit, in health-care settings and inside schools.

On Friday, visits and public tours will resume at the State House, which has been closed to the public since March 2020.

Hogan initially planned to do away with the indoor mask requirement by Memorial Day, when the state expected that 70 percent of the adult population would have received at least one dose of a vaccine.

As of late Wednesday, 67.3 percent of Maryland residents 18 and older had received at least one shot.

Hogan, who had earlier offered a $100 payment to every state government employee who gets vaccinated, continued on Thursday to encourage businesses to offer vaccination incentives to customers and employees. He said he is determined to meet the 70 percent inoculation mark soon.

“We think this will push us over the edge,” he said of the lottery.

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