News

MRC Live & Alternative and Powerball team up once again for “Powerball First Millionaire of the Year” promotion

$1 Million Drawing to be Broadcast on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2023” on ABC

Editor’s Note: B-roll of previous winners of the “Powerball First Millionaire of the Year” is available for download here.

Los Angeles, CA (June 6, 2022) – MRC Live & Alternative and POWERBALL® announced today that they are teaming up for the fourth consecutive year to present the “Powerball First Millionaire of the Year®.” Players from participating lottery jurisdictions will travel to New York City to ring in the New Year and have the chance to win $1 million in a special drawing broadcast live on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2023,” the No. 1 New Year’s Eve programming special, on ABC.

“We’re excited to have our players return to New York City for this truly once-in-a-lifetime experience.” said May Scheve Reardon, Powerball Product Group Chair and Missouri Lottery Executive Director. “This has become a powerhouse partnership between Powerball and MRC Live & Alternative to be able to showcase the exhilarating moment of a new millionaire every New Year.”

“Powerball First Millionaire of the Year” Highlights:

For the first time since 2019, players will return to New York City to participate in the promotion in person.
Participating lotteries will once again hold contests or drawings to randomly select a national pool of semi-finalists for the $1 million prize.
The following lottery jurisdictions will participate in this year’s promotion: Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana (Hoosier), Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington D.C., West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
The Powerball First Millionaire of the Year winner will be announced from the set of the Powerball New Year’s Eve party just after midnight in Times Square.
Last year, “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2022” took viewers to each of the five finalists’ hometowns. Just after midnight, Brian Mineweaser from Honey Brook, PA, was named the 2022 Powerball First Millionaire of the Year.

The No. 1 New Year’s Eve programming special each year, “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2022” was the No. 1 primetime entertainment telecast of 2021. The late-night segment grew for the 2nd year in a row in both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, hitting 4-year highs. The 50th-anniversary show of ABC’s annual New Year’s Eve special drew in 24.2 million Total Viewers and scored a 7.3 Adult 18-49 rating in the midnight quarter-hour.

ABOUT MRC LIVE & ALTERNATIVE
MRC Live & Alternative, a division of global entertainment company MRC, is the world’s largest producer and proprietor of televised live event entertainment programming with the “Academy of Country Music Awards,” “American Music Awards,” “Billboard Music Awards,” “Golden Globe Awards,” “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest,” “So You Think You Can Dance,” and the “Streamy Awards.” MRC Live & Alternative owns one of the world’s most extensive and unique entertainment archive libraries with more than 60 years of award-winning shows, historic programs, specials, performances and legendary programming. For more information please visit: www.mrcentertainment.com.

About POWERBALL
It’s America’s Game! For the past 30 years, POWERBALL® has inspired the country with a chance to become a millionaire, while raising $27 billion for good causes supported by lotteries. POWERBALL set a world record jackpot of $1.586 billion in January 2016. POWERBALL tickets are $2 per play. Tickets are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are held every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. ET. More than half of all proceeds from the sale of a POWERBALL ticket remain in the jurisdiction where the ticket was sold. For more information, visit www.powerball.com.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

MRC Live & Alternative
Leah Palacios
lpalacios@mrcentertainment.com

Multi-State Lottery Association:
Anna Domoto
Anna@MUSL.com