First Powerball Millionaire of 2020 is Named Plus News of a Mega Millions Winner

A new year is said to bring new possibilities. Wash away the previous year and welcome in a new one with a positive attitude. But, in reality, positivity wont net you a win on the lottery unless you’ve bought a ticket. And we bet Blaine Marston of Maine is thanking his lucky stars he bought a ticket in December, because he woke to the news on January 1^st, 2020, of being the very first Powerball millionaire of the new year.

The Powerball drawing for $1,000,000 went live just after midnight during “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2020” on ABC. Gregory R. Mineo, POWERBALL Product Group Chairman and Maine Lottery Director said; “Congratulations to our First POWERBALL Millionaire of the Year! This has been an exciting night in POWERBALL history. We look forward to creating even more millionaires in the New Year, while raising money for good causes supported by lotteries.” 

Country artist Jessie James Decker revealed the winner live on air and when Blaine was informed of his win, he said; “I can’t even believe it, this is unreal. Like I’m dreaming!”

The First Powerball Millionaire Drawing was unveiled at last year’s celebrations and continued throughout the summer. Entries are created from players who purchase tickets from 25 participating jurisdictions. More than 300 of those won a VIP trip to New York to celebrate New Year’s Eve 2020 and were then entered into a draw to win that $1m.

The first lottery to launch the First POWERBALL Millionaire of the Year promotion was the South Dakota Lottery, followed by the Wisconsin Lottery and New Mexico Lottery.  Additional participating jurisdictions included Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Mega Christmas

A lucky Mega Millions ticket holder had a Christmas to remember after bagging a whopping $375million jackpot. The single ticket winner from Ohio matched all six numbers drawn on December 17^th to win that life-changing sum, making it the 14^th largest prize in the history of the game. The winning numbers were 22, 30, 53, 55 and 56 plus the gold Mega Ball 16.

The Mega jackpot had been rolling over since it was last won in Texas on September 24^th; $225m was won in that drawing. Huge wins of 2019 included $437m in New York on January 1^st, $273m in New Jersey on March 1^st, $50m in Missouri on March 12^th, $522m in California on June 7^th and $168m in New Hampshire on July 23^rd.

Want to be the next big winner? You’ve got to be in it to win it!