You got your COVID-19 shot will you win $1 million? And how do you avoid being scammed? – The Fayetteville Observer

Two more prizes of $1 million each to be awarded, plus two more college scholarships worth $125,000 each, by early August.

Paul Woolverton| USA TODAY NETWORK

As North Carolina prepares to announce the winners on Thursdayof the second round of itsCOVID-19 vaccinelottery, here are some things to know about howthe lotteryworks,the prizes, thechances of winning, and how to avoid being victimizedby crooks tryingto take advantage of theprogram to scam people:

Toencourage people to get vaccinated,North Carolinas Your Shot at $1 Million Summer Cash Drawingprogramgiving away four prizes of $1 million casheachto adultswho have been vaccinated against COVID-19. It also has fourcollegescholarship investments of $125,000 each for those12 through 17who have been vaccinated.

Need or want a COVID-19 shot?Click here to find a vaccinationlocation.

The prizes are from federal money allocated to North Carolina for the pandemic.

The first drawing was June 23 and the winners were announced on June 28. AWinston-Salem teacher won $1 million and a Wilmington high school student won the $125,000 scholarship investment. Thescholarshipmoney is put into an interest-bearing 529 plan, which is a tax-exempt college savings program.

Read all about it: Winston-Salem teacher and a Wilmington teen win first NC vaccine lottery prizes

Opinion: Bribing Americans to get the COVID-19 vaccine doesnt solve our real problem

The second drawing was last week, and drawings will continue biweekly into early August. The stateannouncesthe winners some daysfollowing the drawings afterthe winnersare contacted, after they agree to various terms for winning (they may not be anonymous, for example), and make other related arrangements.

A news conference to announce the winners of the second of the four rounds of drawings is schedule for 3 p.m. Thursday. The event will also be streamed online.

Latest vaccine lottery winners: Click here at 3 p.m. Thursday, July 15, 2021, to watch the announcement.

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper said in June that the Republican-majority North Carolina Council of State the states top 10 elected officials approved of the vaccine lottery program.

Nevertheless, it has critics.

The vaccination lottery appears to be a desperate attempt to vaccinate people who have demonstrated a preference to not be vaccinated, said Brian Balfour, the senior vice president of research at John Locke Foundation, a politically right-wing think tank in Raleigh.

North Carolinians across the state have already had ample time and opportunity to get a free vaccination. By some measures, when combining those who have been vaccinated with those who have already had COVID, North Carolina may already have achieved herd immunity, making the vaccine lottery superfluous and a waste of taxpayer dollars.

In his last comment, Balfour was referring to research by one of his colleagues at the Locke Foundation that estimated that by May at least 69.5% of North Carolinians had either received a vaccinationor had gotten sick with COVID-19 and recovered.

Theoddsin theseincontests vary, and are decreasing day-by-day as more people get vaccinated.

People who have been vaccinated on or after June 10 each get two entries; those who were vaccinated prior each have one entry.

For this pastweek, there were about 5.2 million entries for the second cash drawing, and420,000forthe second scholarship drawing, saidHattie Gawande, the senior policy and intergovernmental affairs advisor for the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

The winners have been contacted and their names are expected to be announced this week, she said.

In the first drawing, June 23, therewere 4.5 million entries in the cash drawing and348,000 in the scholarship drawing,Gawandesaid.

With a few exceptions, mostNorth Carolina residentswho get vaccinated in North Carolina are automatically entered in the lottery and can win,Gawande said.This includes people who were vaccinated throughlocal health departmentsprivatehealth providers,the U.S. Veterans Administration, and through the Indian Health Service.

Winners do not have to be American citizens, but they do need to have a Social Security number or a taxpayer identification number or be prepared to get one,Gawande said.

Vaccinated North Carolinians can check online to see if their name is in the records bylogging into the states COVID-19 Vaccine Management System.The webpage shows users how many doses of the COVID-19 vaccine that the state has a record of them receiving.

If you dont know your username or password, the system has links to help you obtain the username and reset your password.

Click here: To log into North Carolinas COVID-19 Vaccine Management System

The maingroups excluded from the vaccination lottery:

People vaccinated by the Department of Defense (e.g.at Fort Bragg, Camp Lejeune, Seymour-Johnson Air Force Base, etc.). Citingnationalsecurity reasons,the military has not beensharing its vaccination data with state officials.

State employees, contractors and others whose jobs involve them in the creation and administration of the lottery.

Prison inmates incarcerated on felony charges.

For each drawing,21 namesof vaccinated people arerandomlyselected bya North Carolina Education Lottery computer,Gawande said. She then tries to contact the first person on the list by phone or email.

If thefirstpersoncant be reached,does not respondwithin two business days of the drawing, declines the prize, or is ineligible, the state then moves on to the nextpotential winner on the list, she said.

A new list of potential winners is selected for each drawing, and no one is allowed to win more than one of the prizes.

The adultsget $1 million, but taxes are withheld, leaving them with about $707,000, Gawande said.

The winners age12 through 17 dont get any money immediately, she said. Instead, the state opens a 529 plan college investment accountfor those winners and puts in$125,000, and it retains control of the account at first.

Money may be drawn out for thewinners college educations,as permitted by the regulations for 529 plans. Ifawinner doesnt use the money, ownership of the account transfers to the winner when he or she turns 25, Gawande said.

The winners may then withdraw the money for non-educational purposes (with a tax penalty)ortransfer the529account to another beneficiary, she said. Ifthescholarshipwinnershavechildrenbut dont use the money for themselves, they could use it to pay for K-12 private school tuition for their children, she said.

The state knows thattelephonescammers maytryto trick people into thinking they won thevaccinelottery and obtain banking or credit card information to steal their money, Gawande said.

When sheand otherstafferscall the winners, she said, theydo not ask forbankaccount or credit card informationand they dont ask for any sort of payment,as scammers sometimes claimthey need in order to deliver a prize.

We have everything that we needto know about the winners, Gawande said. What we will dois ask them to confirm their identity.Shewill tell the winner the winners nameas listed in her records, date of birth, and address, and havethe winnersconfirm thatinformation is correct, she said.

And if a winner is uncertain that the call is real,she hasthe winner hang up,call the front desk at DHHSand ask to betransferredback to her.

One of the first winners also had a video call with state Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen to be extra certain she wasnt being scammed, Gawande said.

Senior North Carolina reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at 910-261-4710 and pwoolverton@gannett.com.

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You got your COVID-19 shot will you win $1 million? And how do you avoid being scammed? - The Fayetteville Observer