MIDDLETOWN, Pa., Dec. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Tickets for the Pennsylvania Lottery's Jan. 5 Millionaire Raffle drawing are selling briskly, with fewer than 250,000 tickets still available as of 1:15 p.m. on Dec. 18.

This popular game, which offers the Pennsylvania Lottery's best odds of winning $1 million, offers 6,000 cash prizes totaling more than $5 million. Four $1 million top prizes will be awarded.

Sales of Millionaire Raffle tickets began Nov. 16 and will continue until 5 p.m. on Jan. 5, or until all remaining tickets are sold – whichever comes first. Tickets for the 14 previous Millionaire Raffles sold out before each drawing.

Players should sign the back of all tickets promptly and keep them in a safe place until the Jan. 5 drawing.

Each $20 raffle ticket bears a unique, eight-digit number issued sequentially as tickets are sold across the state. The first game ticket sold was number 00000001 and the final ticket sold will be number 00500000.

To be considered a winning ticket, the number on a Millionaire Raffle ticket must exactly match a winning number selected in the raffle drawing, and all digits must appear in the same sequence as the winning number.

Winning Millionaire Raffle ticket numbers will be randomly selected at 6:59 p.m. on Jan. 5 when the Lottery's live drawing show will televise the selection of four $1 million, top-prize raffle ticket numbers and four $100,000, second-prize raffle ticket numbers.

The remaining 100 winning ticket numbers for prizes of $1,000 each and 5,892 winning ticket numbers for prizes of $100 each also will be selected, but will not be televised live due to time constraints. In total, 6,000 prizes worth $5,089,200 will be awarded.

A complete list of all 6,000 winning raffle ticket numbers will be available at Lottery retail locations and online at www.palottery.com.

About the Pennsylvania Lottery: The Pennsylvania Lottery remains the only state lottery that designates all its proceeds to programs that benefit older residents. Since its inception in 1971, the Pennsylvania Lottery has contributed more than $22.6 billion to programs that include property tax and rent rebates; free transit and reduced-fare shared rides; the low-cost prescription drug programs PACE and PACENET; long-term living services; and the 52 Area Agencies on Aging, including full- and part-time senior centers throughout the state.

The Pennsylvania Lottery reminds its players to play responsibly. Players must be 18 or older.

For more information, visit www.palottery.com, log in to Facebook and like us at www.facebook.com/palottery or follow us at www.twitter.com/palottery. 

Media contact: Gary Miller, 717-702-8008

SOURCE Pennsylvania Lottery