Montana Millionaire tickets going on sale soon

The Montana Lottery announces that tickets for the annual Montana Millionaire drawing will go on sale at 5:30 a.m. on Friday, November 1, 2024.

Changes to Montana Millionaire in 2024

In March 2024, lottery officials announced several changes to this year’s event.

OVERVIEW OF CHANGES

Four $1 million grand prizes
500,000 tickets
“Quarter Million Monday”
More instant wins

This year, the agency is adding another million-dollar grand prize, bringing the total to four. This comes after an increase from two to three $1 million prizes last year.
The number of tickets sold this year will increase to 500,000, up from 380,000 sold in 2023. Tickets will still be $20. Last year, all tickets were sold in five hours.

The Montana Lottery is also adding a $250,000 Quarter Million Monday drawing on Monday, December 2, 2024; this will replace the previous Early Bird drawings.

There will also be more instant win prizes, with 200 more $500 instant wins and 2,500 more $100 instant wins.

The main prize draw will take place on Thursday, December 26, 2024.

PREVIOUS WINNERS

Last year’s $1 million winning tickets and where they were sold:

299951 – Kalispell City Pump (2910 US 93 South)
315800 – Town and Country Supply (Hilltop Road in Billings)
346589 – Heidelberg Lounge (Division Road in Great Falls)

Previous million-dollar winners over the years include three from Butte, two from Great Falls, four from Billings, two from Columbia Falls and one each from Winnett, East Helena and Laurel. In 2022, no one claimed either of the two Montana Millionaire prizes, so the money went to the state’s General Fund.

Due to changes in the law, the Montana Lottery is no longer allowed to release the names of Montana millionaire winners without their explicit consent.

WHO CAN BUY TICKETS – AND HOW MUCH?

The Montana Lottery has provided answers to several frequently asked questions:

Why don’t you limit Montana Millionaire to Montanans only?
The Montana Lottery is open to every adult, resident or visitor. Restricting the sale of a product to some people and excluding others is discrimination. It would also be contrary to our mission and place an undue burden on our retailers.

Why don’t you limit the number of Montana Millionaire tickets someone can buy?
The mission of the Montana Lottery is to maximize revenue for the State of Montana. Our proceeds fund the Montana STEM/Healthcare Scholarship Program and contribute to the General Fund. Restricting sales of our products would be contrary to our mission and would result in a less positive impact on Montanans.

Why don’t you offer Montana Millionaire or another lottery more than once a year?
The Montana Lottery offers a large selection of games available every day of the year. We believe that Montana Millionaire is special and successful because it is exclusive. While it is possible that we may introduce other lottery games in the future, we have made this strategic business decision at this time based on detailed market research and analysis.

If you have questions, comments or suggestions about the Montana Lottery, here is the contact information:

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 406-444-5825
Address: Montana Lottery, 2525 North Montana Avenue, Helena, Montana, 59601-0598

WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO?

Money received from the lottery is used in several ways.

“The lottery exists to generate revenue for the state of Montana. Most of the sales go towards paying out prizes, operations, and essentially whatever is left over at the end goes back to the government. It’s determined by state statutes, and the beneficiary, as we call it, has changed several times,” Dan Iverson, content manager for the Montana Lottery, told MTN News a few months ago.

Currently, the first $2.25 million goes to the Montana Health and Specialty Scholarship Program, administered by the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education and the Montana University System. Whatever remains goes into the state’s general fund, the amount of which is determined by the legislature.