The state of New Mexico’s Vax 2 the Max Sweepstakes, a $10 million total cash sweepstakes funded by federal stimulus and intended to incentivize COVID-19 vaccinations, produced its next four prize winners Friday afternoon.
The Department of Health is verifying the identity, eligibility and vaccination status of each prospective awardee, in accordance with the sweepstakes rules, before declaring them official prize winners. The prospective winners will have three business days to come forward after being contacted by the Department of Health, per sweepstakes rules.
The four prospective winners are residents of Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Roswell, and Las Cruces.
553, 750 vaccinated New Mexicans opted in to the sweepstakes for the third drawing.
The breakdown to win $250,000 in each public health region was:
- Northwest: 1 in 329,274
- Northeast: 1 in 101,821
- Southwest: 1 in 85,030
- Southeast: 1 in 37,625
Non-winning entries will be carried over to each successive $1 million drawing. New Mexicans who have opted in to the sweepstakes do not have to opt in again to remain eligible for future drawings. Vaccinated New Mexicans who have not yet opted in to the sweepstakes still can opt in for future drawings at vax2themaxnm.org. The deadline to opt in for each drawing is 6 p.m. the night before the drawing.
Two more $1 million Friday drawings, with four regional $250,000 winners each, will occur throughout the summer, each conducted by the New Mexico Lottery on behalf of the Lujan Grisham administration.
The next $1 million drawing is scheduled for July 23, followed by one last drawing scheduled for July 30.
A grand prize drawing of $5 million is scheduled for early August.
The sweepstakes and other financial incentives have contributed to increased interest in vaccinations statewide.
New Mexicans who have received at least one COVID-19 vaccination may opt in to the sweepstakes at vax2themaxNM.org. To be eligible for the $5 million grand prize, New Mexicans must have completed their vaccination series. New Mexicans can schedule their shots at vaccineNM.org.