The Maryland Lottery’s Billion Dollar Challenge participants were (from left) Shantele Smoak, Pragati Sidh, Clarissa Clayton, Karen Leonardi, Inez Dixon, Christopher Taroli and Lisa Taylor. |
Seven lucky Maryland Lottery players traveled to Las Vegas earlier this week to participate in the BILLION DOLLAR CHALLENGE™. The Marylanders, along with 92 other participants from lotteries across the country, were playing for the chance to win up to $1 billion. Although no Maryland Lottery winner came home a billionaire, they are returning home with fun memories, new friends and some extra cash.
Clarissa Clayton from Columbia, Inez Dixon from Silver Spring, Karen Leonardi from Essex, Pragati Sidh from Reisterstown, Shantele Smoak from Riverside, Christopher Taroli from Silver Spring and Lisa Taylor from Landover each won $1,000 on April 16 at the BILLION DOLLAR CHALLENGE™.
The trip took place April 14-17, 2019. In addition to the cash prizes won at the event, each participant received round-trip airfare for two to Las Vegas, deluxe hotel accommodations for three nights, $1,000 spending money and the opportunity to play in the BILLION DOLLAR CHALLENGE™.
The Maryland Lottery’s BILLION DOLLAR CHALLENGE™ second-chance promotion ran from April 23, 2018-Jan. 7, 2019. To enter, Lottery players submitted non-winning WILLY WONKA GOLDEN TICKET™ scratch-off tickets into the My Lottery Rewards program. The seven Maryland Lottery winners were randomly selected from more than 2.7 million entries.