US state COVID-19 vaccine lotteries (2021)

US state COVID-19 vaccine lotteries in 2021 included Ohio Vax-a-Million, New York's Vax and Scratch pilot, and North Carolina's Summer Cash Drawing. North Carolina's official rules, dated June 10, 2021, set four cash drawings beginning June 23, 2021 (North Carolina Education Lottery rules).

Several states offered a chance at a prize to people who had received a COVID-19 vaccine. This page is the lottery record. North Carolina's drawings are the program with a published rulebook in the sources below. Ohio and New York are summarized from the governors' releases and are written up again on the New York incentives page and the national incentives table.

North Carolina Summer Cash Drawing

The North Carolina Education Lottery's official rules for the "Summer Cash Drawing," dated in the document as established for a promotion the Department of Health and Human Services, the lottery director, and the State Education Assistance Authority were directed to operate, set the first drawing of one cash prize and one scholarship prize for June 23, 2021, then every other Wednesday. The Governor of North Carolina's office, in a June 28, 2021 release, said adults 18 and over with at least one dose were entered in four drawings for a $1 million prize, that people vaccinated on or after June 10 were entered twice, and that four people ages 12 to 17 would receive a $125,000 education account. The same release said drawings ran every other week from June 23 to August 4, and that Executive Order 219 authorized them. It also named the first winners that day. This page records the program. It does not list later winners beyond that first announcement.

Ohio Vax-a-Million

On May 12, 2021, in a statewide address reported in full by WCMH, Governor Mike DeWine described "Ohio Vax-a-Million": five Wednesday drawings, starting May 26, of $1 million for adults 18 and older who had been vaccinated, with the Ohio Department of Health as sponsor and the Ohio Lottery conducting the drawings, paid from existing federal coronavirus relief funds. A separate scholarship drawing was described for people 17 and under. The governor's office recap is dated May 13, 2021. On May 17, 2021 the office said the drawing would be opt-in, with registration opening the next day at OhioVaxaMillion.com or by phone to the health department. An Ohio Department of Health release the same day said winners would be announced each Wednesday for five weeks, and that the final announcement would be June 23.

New York Vax and Scratch

On May 20, 2021 the Governor of New York announced "Vax & Scratch": a free New York Lottery scratch-off ticket, sold at retail for $20, for people 18 and older who received a first Pfizer dose or the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at one of ten state mass-vaccination sites open May 24 through May 28, with a grand prize of $5 million. A May 28, 2021 release extended the offer to ten further sites from May 31 through June 4. The sites and the scholarship programs of that spring are on the New York State incentives page. Ohio and North Carolina sit beside New York in the national incentives table.