Capital Rants

And, for the seventh time, the game was a sellout.

In fact, it wasn’t even close. Winners were drawn Jan. 3. But all 500,000 tickets for the game had been scarfed up by 10:21 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 27.

That precision comes courtesy of Pennsylvania Lottery information specialist Veronica Sinclair-Anderson who says the agency was, of course, very happy, but not necessarily surprised, that tickets went so fast.

“We anticipate selling out every year,” she said. “It’s a very popular game for us.”

But dropping $20 for a lottery ticket in this economy? I mean, if my calculator is working correctly — and, hey, this isn’t calculus — that means Pennsylvania sold $10 million worth of Millionaire Raffle tickets.

Two of the four $1 million prizes hadn’t been claimed as of close of business Wednesday, but it’s unlikely there were local winners. The yet-to-step-forward millionaires purchased their tickets in Mifflin and Allegheny counties.

There’s no guarantee, but it’s likely the lottery will hold another Millionaire Raffle this summer, around July 4, as the state has done in the past, Sinclair-Anderson said.

With the state facing a budget deficit that seems to grow by the day, I’d say that’s pretty much guaranteed.

And a piece of advice for president-elect Barack Obama. Need to raise some quick cash to cover the mounting bailout bills? Just hold a national millionaire raffle. Apparently, it’s recession-proof.