**LOS ANGELES, CA (January 1, 2022)–**Just after midnight, MRC Live and Alternative and POWERBALL® announced BRIAN MINEWEASER from Honey Brook, PA, as the winner of the POWERBALL First Millionaire of the Year drawing during ABC’s live broadcast of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2022.” Revealed live on-air by POWERBALL correspondent Jessie James Decker, Mineweaserwas the $1 million winner randomly selected at the culmination of the national POWERBALL promotion.
“The POWERBALL game produces hundreds of million-dollar winners every year, but to capture one person’s winning moment as it unfolds on live television at the top of a new year is something spectacular,” said May Scheve Reardon, POWERBALL Product Group Chair and Missouri Lottery Executive Director. “POWERBALL and its lottery partners are excited to come back next year to continue this winning tradition.”
Returning for a third year, this year’s promotion included 29 participating U.S. lotteries that held drawings and contests in their respective jurisdictions to determine a national pool of semi-finalists. From that pool, five finalists were randomly selected, in a preliminary drawing, to advance to the $1 million drawing. In addition to the chance to win $1 million, the five finalists were also awarded a $10,000 cash prize plus an at-home New Year’s Eve party package, including a 70-inch LED TV, a karaoke system, a premium laptop computer (with 20 mega-pixel digital camera, on-camera microphone, 19” ring light, and other accessories), a deluxe dinner for eight, $500 to spend at Party City, and more.
Decker, who checked in with the finalists celebrating at their homes across the country throughout the night, ultimately revealed Mineweaseras the POWERBALL First Millionaire of 2022.
Participating lottery jurisdictions included Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana (Hoosier), Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virgin Islands, Vermont, and Washington D.C.
Last year, “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest” took viewers to each of the five finalists’ hometowns. Just after midnight, Carlos Mabry from Washington, D.C. was named the 2021 POWERBALL First Millionaire of the Year. In 2020, Blaine Marston from Passadumkeag, Maine was named the inaugural POWERBALL First Millionaire of the Year.
For more information on the “POWERBALL First Millionaire of the Year” promotion, please visit www.powerballrockineve.com.