Cecil County Resident Claims $50,000 VaxCash 2.0 Prize

Winner was selected in April 5 drawing.

An 18-year-old Cecil County man and his parents visited Lottery headquarters on April 8 to claim one of the latest $50,000 prizes awarded in the VaxCash 2.0 Promotion.

The winner, a Cecil County college student, said that when he first received the news that he had just won $50,000 he thought it might be a belated April Fools’ Day prank. Once he believed it, the shock and excitement of the win made it hard to concentrate in class and sleep at night.

The lucky winner, selected from millions of Marylanders who have received COVID-19 vaccinations and booster shots, explained that his academic career and missing school during the pandemic was a large part of his desire to get vaccinated and boosted.

“I was part-way through my junior year of high school when the pandemic hit and spent my entire senior year remote,” he explained.

Now that he is fully vaccinated, he is back to in-person academics and looking forward to earning a degree in biotechnology.

The winner said that he has several ideas for his prize winnings, but plans to use the bulk of the $50,000 prize to fund his college education.

The Cecil County resident is one of eight VaxCash 2.0 winners so far, and one of seven winners of $50,000. The promotion’s first drawing on Feb. 15 awarded a $500,000 prize to a Dundalk woman. Three more $50,000 prize drawings remain each Tuesday through April 26, and the last drawing on May 3 will award a grand prize of $1 million.

The VaxCash 2.0 Promotion, which was announced by Governor Larry Hogan on Feb. 8, will award $2 million in cash prizes in weekly drawings from Feb. 15 through May 3. VaxCash 2.0 aims to incentivize Marylanders to get COVID-19 booster shots. All Maryland residents 18 and older who have received an initial shot(s) and a booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine at eligible facilities in Maryland at any time are eligible to win. No registration or entry is needed.

VaxCash 2.0 follows last year’s successful collaboration between the Lottery and Maryland Department of Health for the VaxCash Promotion that ran from May 25 through July 4, 2021, awarding $2 million in prizes to vaccinated Marylanders. For complete details about VaxCash 2.0, including the official rules and a list of frequently asked questions and answers, visit the VaxCash 2.0 page.