The Pennsylvania Lottery: Do You Have a Snowball's Chance?

If last week's Pennsylvania Lottery Millionaire Raffle didn't make you a millionaire, it means you didn't buy your ticket in Cumberland or Allegheny County.

In the entire state of Pennsylvania, those two counties were where all four of the top winning $1 million tickets were sold. The winning numbers in the Millionaire Raffle were 00000596, 00007008, 00124963 and 00411318.

The first $1 million winner, Clido Gardjulis, of Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County claimed his prize just two days after the Jan. 1 drawing. The three remaining million-dollar prizes are still unclaimed.

Meanwhile, if you're sure didn't make a pit stop in Allegheny County to buy a lottery ticket recently or if you're still pining away over your losing raffle ticket, fear not. The PA lottery still offers several games that could make you a millionaire at any given time -- including several instant scratch-off games.

On Monday in Somerset County, one lucky player won $1.57 million in the lottery's Cash 5 game. This week's win was the single largest Cash 5 winner since the game began back in 1992. The largest Cash 5 jackpot was won in April 2008, when two winning tickets split the prize of $1,867,253.

Last month, six new PA lottery instant games were unveiled, including the highly anticipated 20X the Money and Hershey's Kisses & Cash. Some of the recent instant games, like Kisses & Cash and Monopoly, offer second chance drawings for losing tickets.

Another scratch-off game, The Millionaire Dollar Mega Multiplier, will cost you a pretty penny -- 2000 of them to be exact -- but the game offers an instant chance for you to become a millionaire. Of course the odds are also one in a million (or, in all actuality, 1 in 1,200,000).

Other recent million dollar instant games include Merry Millionaire and $1 Million Platinum Payout, although savvy players know to check the lottery website to see the list of unclaimed prizes before playing, to see what prizes -- if any -- are still available (Merry Millionaire has no million dollar tickets left).

Of course, according to the PA Lottery website, the Millionaire Raffle offers you the best chance to become a millionaire. With a mere 500,000 tickets available, there's a guaranteed four one-million dollar winners. No more, no less. That's a 1 in 125,000 chance to take home the big bucks, with close to 6000 more chances to take home smaller prizes like $100 or $1000. Ticket sales stop once 500,000 tickets are sold, so those odds never change.

Since 1972, the proceeds from the Pennyslvania Lottery have benefited older Pennsylvanians -- to the tune of $20 billion.

As for the Millionaire Raffle, if the Pennsylvania Lottery stays on its current twice-yearly schedule, the next drawing will most likely occur in July.

Victoria Leigh Miller is a freelance writer and lifelong Pennsylvania resident.