PA Man Wins Powerball First Millionaire of the Year
Saturday January 1st 2022One lucky Pennsylvania lottery player kicked off 2022 $1 million better off. Brian Mineweaser was drawn as the Powerball First Millionaire of the Year on live TV just after midnight on January 1.
For the third year in a row, a Powerball player was randomly selected as the winner of $1 million on the Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve TV with Ryan Seacrest broadcast on ABC.
Mineweaser, of Honey Brook, Pennsylvania was announced as the 2022 millionaire by Powerball correspondent Jessie James Decker shortly after the ball dropped in Times Square.
"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.
"Powerball and its lottery partners are excited to come back next year to continue this winning tradition," she announced - so it could be your turn to ring in next year as a millionaire.
Prior to the draw, Mineweaser said the possibility of winning was "surreal" and "amazing", revealing that "I’m extremely nervous to appear on national TV, but I’m excited. I’m sure it is going to be a very exciting night.”
He plans to put the prize to good use funding his four children's college educations.
29 US lotteries took part in this year's Powerball promotion. Each lottery held local drawings that produced national semifinalists, and five finalists were randomly chosen from this group to get a shot at the $1 million top prize.
The other finalists were Linda Perkins of Aurora, IL; Shari Beenken of Titonka, IA; Robert Long of Waterloo, IA (who represented a group of 22 players, Lotto 22); and Aaron Rose of Slaughter, LA.
The finalists each enjoyed $10,000 in cash plus a NYE party-at-home package, including an LED TV, karaoke system, laptop computer, dinner for eight, and a $500 Party City voucher.
This year's participating lotteries were 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.
In the contest's first year, 2020, Blaine Marston of Passadumkeag, Maine was the lucky winner, followed by 2021's millionaire, Carlos Mabry of Washington, D.C.
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