A Georgia Lottery player has the thrilling opportunity to kick off the new year as a new millionaire. Mr. Tracy Lacobie-Goeddel of Atlanta is one of five finalists who have the chance to win the $1 million grand prize in the “Powerball First Millionaire of the Year” promotion.
For the fifth consecutive year, the special drawing for the $1 million prize will occur during the broadcast of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2024,” the No. 1 New Year’s Eve special on television, live on Sunday, Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. on ABC. Each finalist has won a VIP trip for two to New York City to ring in the New Year and participate in a random $1 million drawing in person, which will be held just after midnight EST on January 1.
“Holy cow, this is a big deal,” said Lacobie-Goeddel, 55. “I’ve been watching this show since I was a kid, and I’m going to be on it. I’m very excited just to get a trip to New York, but the one in five chance is the greatest chance I’ve ever had of winning anything like this.”
Lacobie-Goeddell has worked as a barber for 37 years. If he wins the million-dollar prize, he plans to buy his brother a wheelchair accessible van, pay off his mortgage, and help some charitable organizations.
“We are so excited to have a Georgia finalist and wish Tracy the best of luck throughout this amazing experience,” Georgia Lottery President and CEO Gretchen Corbin said. “Powerball generates important dollars for Georgia Lottery-funded HOPE and Pre-K. This exciting promotion delivers entertainment for our players, an incredible opportunity for our lucky Georgia finalist, and increases awareness of our Powerball product. We’ll all be watching and cheering on Tracy.”
The five finalists include: Tracy Lacobie-Goeddel, Georgia; Finton Wallace, Rhode Island; Lora-Lee Casady, Idaho; Pamela Bradshaw, North Carolina; and Maire Kelly Joyce, New York. Each finalist entered the national Powerball promotion through one of 23 participating U.S. lotteries.
Throughout the year, participating lotteries held second-chance drawings and contests to form a national pool of entrants. The five finalists were randomly selected from the national pool during a preliminary drawing last month.
Lotteries that participated in this year’s promotion include Arizona, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana (Hoosier), Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virgin Islands, and Washington D.C.
Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery Corp. has returned more than $27.2 billion to the state of Georgia for education. All Georgia Lottery profits go to pay for specific educational programs, including Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship Program and Georgia’s Pre-K Program. More than 2.1 million students have received HOPE, and more than 2 million 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary prekindergarten program.
For more information on the Georgia Lottery Corp. and Powerball, please visit:
www.galottery.com and www.powerball.com
