Residents waiting in line as early as 4:30 a.m. to grab tickets before they're gone

By Kate Northrop

The Montana Lottery's annual Montana Millionaire raffle was sold out in six and a half hours this year, with some dedicated players lining up at stores as early as 4:30 a.m. to make sure they don't miss out.

On the day of its launch, sales for the Montana Lottery's Montana Millionaire raffle were cut off by the time the afternoon rolled around.

Tickets took longer than last year to sell out, with all 500,000 tickets gone in just three hours in 2024, but it's still an impressive sell-out for 2025 considering the Lottery added 120,000 tickets to the total to keep up with the game's growing demand.

Local news stations were visiting retailers to find that players had already been waiting in line long before sales even begun at 5:30 a.m., with some camped out at 4:30 a.m. at the Conoco gas station on 24th Street in Billings, MTN reported.

Montana Millionaire is so popular in the state, that players on social media have been coining the day tickets go on sale as "Montana Millionaire Day." And although tickets are $20 each, it's not unheard of for individuals to scoop up dozens of tickets at once for themselves, family members, and friends.

"I'm buying 30, some for me, my husband, and my friend," customer Julie Sedahl told MTN reporters while purchasing her tickets.

Montana residents love the excitement around the annual tradition and take pride in having an in-state raffle, and it certainly helps that the Lottery added a fifth $1 million prize this year. As a result, players have a 1 in 124,000 chance at winning a million dollars, in addition to several other instant prizes of $100 and $500.

"It's just once a year, and it's just for Montanans," Montana Millionaire fan Malissa Raasakka said to MTN in an interview. "And then, you know, you come and you have a chance to win, and it's exciting to watch everybody get up and take a chance."

The Montana Millionaire raffle is not limited to Montana residents, the Lottery clarified.

"The Montana Lottery is available to everyone of legal age, whether resident or visitor," the Lottery says on their website. "Limiting the sale of a product to some people while excluding others is discrimination. It would also be contrary to our mission and place an undue burden on our retailers."

The Lottery had added 120,000 tickets to the available total this year, but some players who missed out on tickets in prior years were wise to not let that lull them into a state of comfort.

"My husband is so funny. The past two years he didn't get his Montana Millionaire lotto ticket because they sell out within a couple of hours and he's always missed it," one social media user said on X. "Determined to not be defeated this year he had me wake him up at 4:45 am so he could be first in line to get his ticket. Go Brad, house slippers, bed head and all he's off to get it as tickets go on sale at 5:30 am. We never ever buy lotto tickets but the Montana millionaire is capped at a certain amount and they hold drawings a couple times a week for instant prizes etc. This is retirement."

By 6:00 a.m., just 30 minutes into sales, over a third of all tickets had reportedly been sold, with some players stating that they were receiving tickets in the 215,000 range. Tickets are sold sequentially starting with number 000001.

A customer shared with NonStop Local that they purchased multiple tickets, and looking at the timestamps on the ticket revealed that more than 2,000 tickets were sold in just 30 seconds.

Just before 7:00 a.m., tickets were being sold in the 416,000 range. By 7:45 a.m., over 500,000 tickets had been sold, according to NonStop Local.

Then at exactly noon on the dot, the Lottery sold its last raffle ticket, Lottery Sales and Marketing Director Anne Charpentier told Lottery Post. Not too long after, the Lottery made the official announcement that the raffle was sold out.

Players who were fortunate enough to grab a raffle ticket have the Quarter Million Monday Drawing to look forward to on Dec. 1, which will award one $250,000 prize. The Grand Prize drawing will take place on Dec. 26, which will draw winners for five prizes of $1 million.

To see if your state is offering an annual raffle this holiday season, check out Lottery Post's guide to 2025 holiday raffles across the USA.