Pair of vax? Two lucky Chicagoans among latest $100,000 winners in state vaccine lottery

It’s the first time since the state launched the “All in for the Win” lottery in July that two of the three weekly $100,00 winners were Chicagoans — although city residents have been lucky overall.

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People line up to receive a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at Pui Tak Center in Chinatown in June.

People line up to receive a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at Pui Tak Center in Chinatown in June.

Ashlee Rezin/Archivo Sun-Times

Two lucky Chicagoans and a resident of suburban Cook County will be $100,000 richer after being drawn Monday in the state’s weekly COVID-19 vaccine lottery.

It’s the first time since the state launched the “All in for the Win” lottery in July that two of the three weekly $100,00 winners were Chicagoans — although city residents have been lucky overall. Last week marked only the second weekly drawing in which no city residents claimed prizes.

The three latest winners will be notified of their prizes by phone, email or both by the state’s department of public health. The department will call from (312) 814-3524 or send an email to the winners from DPH.communications@illinois.gov.

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The vaccinated residents will have seven days to claim their winnings. Their names could be announced in eight days if they choose to go public — although so far none of the previous winners have chosen to do so.

Time is running out to be eligible for the lottery.

The state plans to hand out $100,000 jackpots to 22 vaccinated state residents on Thursday and the final three $100,000 prizes to three residents next Monday. The final drawing will be Aug. 26 when two $1 million cash prizes and the remaining $150,000 scholarships will be awarded, according to the state’s website on the vaccine lottery.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker took to Twitter to encourage the state’s residents to get vaccinated to be eligible in time for that final drawing, tweeting that getting inoculated by Aug. 18 would offer a chance to “save lives and win big.”

Monday’s drawing is the sixth in the state’s vaccine lottery, which is aimed at boosting the state’s vaccination rate.

The luck has been fairly evenly spread across the state over the past five weeks — although the biggest winner so far was a Chicagoan.

A city resident was chosen in the first drawing on July 8, scoring the only $1 million jackpot to be awarded at this point. That same day, youths from Chicago and suburban Cook County each claimed two of the three $150,000 scholarships already awarded.

Chicagoans also picked up $100,000 prizes in the July 12 and July 19 drawings. The July 26 drawing was the only other with no Chicago winner.

With the latest drawing, a total of 15 vaccinated state residents have won $100,000 jackpots through the lottery. Four of them have been from Chicago, six from the suburbs, and five from downstate.

People wait for their turn to receive the COVID-19 vaccine outside a mobile clinic that’s parked in front of West Town Bakery and Diner in the East Ukrainian Village neighborhood in May.

People wait for their turn to receive the COVID-19 vaccine outside a mobile clinic that’s parked in front of West Town Bakery and Diner in the East Ukrainian Village neighborhood in May.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times file

To be eligible for future drawings, state residents must have received their doses of coronavirus vaccine at least one week ahead of the draw.

Illinois created a $7 million cash prize pool for vaccinated adults. In addition, another 17 vaccinated kids will still be chosen to win $150,000 scholarships from a separate $3 million prize pool.

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