GREAT FALLS — Several people are going to kick off the new year with a much bigger bank account, thanks to the Montana Lottery. As part of this year's Montana Millionaire, there are four grand prizes worth $1 million each.
Montana Millionaire sold 500,000 tickets on November 1st; each ticket cost $20. All tickets sold out within three hours.
The four grand prize winning tickets were drawn on Thursday, December 26, 2024. The winning tickets and where they were sold:
- 021333 – Cranny’s Club Tavern & Casino in Dillon
- 077800 – Super 1 Foods in Great Falls
- 143115 – Grand Slam Casino in Great Falls
- 416013 – Beartooth Harley Davidson in Billings
OPENED EARLY
Several people have asked KRTV how the casinos and the Harley Davidson shop were able to sell lottery tickets, since they don't open until 9 a.m., and all of the Montana Millionaire tickets were sold before 8:30 a.m.
The answer is that some businesses opened early on that day in order to accommodate people who wanted to buy tickets, knowing they would sell out within hours.
One specific example of this is the Heidelberg Lounge in Great Falls, which opened at 5:30 a.m. on November 1st to sell tickets and to serve up coffee and donuts for people who didn't want to risk missing out on a chance to buy a ticket.
$250K PRIZE
The Montana Lottery this year also featured a “Quarter Million Monday” drawing for $250,000 on Monday, December 2, 2024; the winning ticket for that prize was sold at the Office Bar & Motel in Vaughn, a few miles northwest of Great Falls.
The $250,000 prize has not been claimed yet; the winner has six months from the drawing date to claim it. If the prize is not claimed, the money will be transferred to the state's general fund; the same rule applies to the million-dollar prizes.
PREVIOUS WINNERS
Since the Montana Millionaire began, the following towns have sold winning tickets: six in Billings; five in Great Falls; three in Butte; two in Columbia Falls, and one each in Winnett, East Helena, Kalispell, Dillon, and Laurel.
Previous winners of the Montana Millionaire grand prize include:
- 2020: Megan Thorstenson, Butte
- 2019: Casey Petero, Columbia Falls
- 2018: Richard Mai, Billings
- 2017: Amy Lambert, Butte
- 2016: Daniel Thompson, Great Falls
- 2015: Jack Barisich, Winnett
- 2014: Jeffrey Fallang, East Helena
- 2013: Russell Miller, Columbia Falls
- 2012: Sam Polesky, Laurel
- 2011: Vern & Mara Wallace, Billings
- 2010: William Morse, Billings
- 2009: Dana Delguerra, Great Falls
- 2008: Mike & Carole McGivern, Butte
- 2007: Gary & BJ Klipstein, Billings
Due to a change in legislation in 2021, the Montana Lottery is no longer allowed to release names of Montana Millionaire winners unless give consent.
In 2022, no one claimed one of the two Montana Millionaire prizes, so the money went into the State General Fund.
MONTANA MILLIONAIRE FAQ
The Montana Lottery has provided responses to several frequently-asked questions:
- Why don’t you limit Montana Millionaire to Montana residents only? The Montana Lottery is available to everyone of legal age, whether resident or visitor. Limiting the sale of a product to some people while 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 Montana’s STEM/Healthcare Scholarship Program and contribute to the General Fund. To limit sales of our products would be contrary to our mission and result in less positive impact for the residents of Montana.
- Why don’t you offer Montana Millionaire or another raffle game more than once per year? The Montana Lottery has a large selection of games available every day of the year. We believe Montana Millionaire is special and successful because it’s exclusive. While it is not impossible that we may introduce other raffle games in the future, currently we have made this strategic business decision based on detailed market research and analysis.
WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO?
Money generated from the lottery is used in several ways.
“The lottery exists to generate revenue for the State of Montana. Most sales go towards paying prizes, operations, and essentially whatever is left at the end of that is what goes back to the state. That’s determined by state legislative action and the beneficiary, as we call it, has changed a number of times,” Montana Lottery content manager Dan Iverson told MTN News several months ago.
Currently, the first $2.25 million goes to the Montana Stem/Healthcare Scholarship Program, operated by the Office Of The Commissioner Of Higher Education and the Montana University System. Whatever is left goes to the state's general fund, which is dictated by the legislature.
