Canton Resident Wins $47K Georgia Lottery Prize

CANTON, GA — A resident from Tallapoosa and another from Canton have won deluxe prizes participating in the first round of the Georgia Lottery’s Billion Dollar Challenge second chance promotion, the organization said last week.

The Tallapoosa resident won $2 million while Eric Matylewich of Canton won $47,500 in the promotion. From April 18, 2017, through Jan. 17 of this year, players were able to enter non-winning Willy Wonka Golden Ticket scratchers into the promotion for a chance to win a trip to Las Vegas and up to $1 billion in the Billion Dollar Challenge.

Fifteen winners were selected randomly in a drawing that took place Jan. 19. One final drawing was conducted April 18 in Las Vegas to award two finalists cash prizes. The second Billion Dollar Challenge promotion began Jan. 18.

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For more information about the Billion Dollar Challenge second chance promotion, including winners and information about the second drawing, visit the game's website.

Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery Corp. has returned more than $19.5 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 1.8 million students have received HOPE, and more than 1.6 million 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary prekindergarten program.

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