The Montana Lottery said at 8:24 a.m. Friday that all 500,000 tickets for the Montana Millionaire drawings have been sold. Tickets went on sale at 5:30 a.m.
Pictures on social media show lines of people snaking through the aisles of convenience stores, and in some cases long lines extending out the doors of stores.
Last year, the 380,000 tickets sold out in about five hours.
“The demand for Montana Millionaire this year has been absolutely incredible,” said Montana Lottery Director Bob Brown. “We knew tickets would sell fast, but under a 3-hour sellout for 500,000 tickets is truly unprecedented.”
As of 6 a.m., about 100,000 tickets had sold. By 6:49 a.m. about 250,000 had been sold, and by 7:30 a.m. about 392,000 had been sold. The Montana Lottery said at 8:24 a.m. that all 500,000 tickets had been sold.
Brown says the excitement continues with the Quarter Million Monday drawing on Dec. 2 for the $250,000 prize. Then the four $1 million grand prize drawing on Dec. 26.
The game also included 2,300 $500 instant win prizes and 4,500 $100 instant win prizes. All instant winners and the Quarter Million Monday winner tickets are still eligible for the grand prize drawings.
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