Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

BATON ROUGE — Fourteen vaccinated Louisianans will win scholarships and cash prizes – including one adult who will win $1 million – throughout July as part of the Shot At A Million campaign the state is launching to reward residents who have taken or who choose to get their COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Edwards announced Thursday.

Registration for Louisiana’s Shot At A Million lottery begins Monday, June 21, 2021 at noon CDT. Louisianans who have gotten the vaccine can register online at ShotAtAMillion.com. Residents who do not have access to the internet or who have questions can call the toll-free hotline at 877-356-1511 to register, starting Monday.

“It’s time to take your Shot At A Million, Louisiana. Any resident who has taken at least one COVID vaccine dose can register to win life-changing cash and scholarship prizes. Get your first shot by July 31 and you could be our grand prize winner,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said. “Getting your COVID vaccine is already a huge win for Louisianans because they can safely take off their masks, be around other people and know that they are protected from serious COVID-19 infections, hospitalization and death. These safe and effective vaccines are the key to a brighter future full of music and festivals and fun for our state. But for 14 lucky Louisianans, getting the vaccine is going to mean even more. It’s time to go Sleeves Up to Bring Back Louisiana, because you don’t want to throw away your Shot At A Million.”

“This is a once-in-a-century event and we find ourselves at a pivotal point. Shot At A Million is bold and creative – and we’ll need more unconventional ideas like this to end this pandemic. Because when lives are on the line, you do whatever it takes,” said Dr. Joseph Kanter, State Health Officer. “The circulation of the COVID variants of concern, especially the fast-spreading Delta variant, adds further urgency to our vaccine campaign. What we do now will in part dictate what our fall looks like.”

“Cash for college is always a reason to celebrate,” said Commissioner of Higher Education Kim Hunter Reed.  “This is an exciting opportunity for students to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and the lagniappe is more than a little something extra.  These scholarships will help our future students advance their education at a two-year or four-year college or university or through an apprenticeship program. Our message is clear – to bring back Louisiana geaux get your vaccine and geaux register to win these scholarships and cash prizes.”

Louisianans who have taken at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and are age 18 or older may enter to win one of four $100,000 prizes and the grand prize of $1 million. Louisianans who have taken at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and are between the ages of 12 and 17 may enter to win one of nine $100,000 scholarships. Louisianans are eligible if they have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine before the drawing date – regardless of when they were vaccinated.

Louisiana will have four weekly drawings for one $100,000 scholarship and one $100,000 cash prize. The final grand prize drawing on August 4, 2021 will award a $1 million cash award and five $100,000 scholarships. Overall awards will total $2.3 million, paid using federal COVID outreach dollars.

The Louisiana Lottery Corporation is assisting the Louisiana Department of Health with structuring the reward program and conducting the randomized drawings, with LDH and the Legislative Auditor present. LDH will not share a person’s vaccine status or health information with the Louisiana Lottery Corporation, and will confirm the vaccination status of the winner after de-identifying the person’s information.

Schedule of drawings:

• Enter by July 9, 2021 by 11:59 p.m. CDT for the July 14 drawing
• Enter by July 16, 2021 by 11:59 p.m. CDT for the July 21 drawing
• Enter by July 23, 2021 by 11:59 p.m. CDT for the July 28 drawing
• Enter by July 30, 2021 by 11:59 p.m. CDT for the August 4 drawing
• Enter by July 31, 2021 by 11:59 p.m. CDT for the August 4 Grand Prize Drawing

Winners will be announced two days after the drawing to allow time to confirm vaccination status. The Grand Prize winners will be announced on August 13, 2021. For more information, visit ShotAtAMillion.com.

Need help getting a vaccine?

The three FDA-authorized COVID vaccines are very easy to find in Louisiana. People can call the vaccine hotline at 1-855-453-0774 between 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday.

The vaccine hotline can answer vaccine questions, schedule appointments, help people find a vaccine provider or community event near them, and connect people to medical professionals.

The federal government also runs Vaccines.gov, which helps people locate vaccination locations near them.

People can also text their ZIP code to GETVAX (438829) in English, or VACUNA (822862) in Spanish, to get the contact information of three locations near them with available vaccines.