$1 Million Lottery Ticket Sold In Two Harbors

Forget New Years resolutions.  Two lucky Minnesotan's ushered in the year with sizable winnings in the Minnesota Lottery's Millionaire Raffle drawing - with each taking home a $1 million payday. One of those winning tickets has local ties to the Northland.

Minnesota Lottery officials have announced that the two $1 million winning tickets were sold at the Kwik Trip #141 in Two Harbors and at the Dollar Fresh in Glencoe. The lucky recipients will go home with the prize worth $1 million before taxes.

Following protocols, the two merchants that sold the winning tickets will also receive a sizable check; each store gets a $5,000 bonus for selling the top-prize winning tickets.

While the majority of the attention is on the top prize, the Minnesota Lottery also  announced an additional 12,000 winning numbers; five of those tickets were worth $100,000 and five will bring the lucky purchaser $25,000 in prizes.  None of these were sold at retailers in our area.

If you bought a ticket and would like to check on your numbers, the Minnesota Lottery has a "Check My Numbers" page on their website.  All you need to do is select the game and then enter the numbers you have on your ticket.

Additionally, the Minnesota Lottery allows you to check the complete list of all 12,322 winning raffle numbers associated with the Millionaire Raffle drawing.  Click here to be directed to that page on their website.

Since it's inception in 1990, the Minnesota Lottery has contributed a sizeable amount of money towards the bottom line of the state budget. Their website details that "more than $3.25 billion has been generated for programs that benefit Minnesotans". Those dollars help out in a variety of different ways:

• Helping to restore, enhance, and protect high-quality habitat for Minnesota wildlife
• Fighting invasive species
• Protecting native species
• Improving air and water quality through the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, the Natural Resources Fund, and the Game & Fish Fund

Additionally, "a portion of every dollar played supports General Fund programs like education, public safety, and human services".