Pennsylvania Local Becomes the First Powerball Millionaire of 2022

What greater feeling can there be than seeing your financial dreams come true just as 2022 kicks off? This was the case for one lucky person from Honey Brook, PA, who thanks to the POWERBALL lucky draw promotion is now $1 million richer!

May Scheve Reardon, POWERBALL Chair and Missouri Lottery Executive Director, said:

"The POWERBALL game produces hundreds of million-dollar winners every year, but to capture one person's winning moment as it unfolds on live television at the top of a new year is something spectacular. POWERBALL and its lottery partners are excited to come back next year to continue this winning tradition."

For the past three years, POWERBALL has partnered with Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve show to televise this dream-come-true moment live.

Making New Year Millionaires

Unless you’ve spent any amount of time in the US you might be familiar with the long-running New Year’s Eve celebration show “Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve” (NYRE). It is a special annualised broadcast by ABC which focuses on ringing in the new year by broadcasting the fun and excitement from New York City's Times Square with the show’s climax being the ball drop event.

First aired in 1973, the rating of the show tapered off in 1999 eventually forcing it off the air for a few years, but it has recently made a strong comeback securing none other than Ryan Seacrest as its host. Over the past three years, NYRE has also featured the POWERBALL lucky draw which aims to make one lucky contestant a $1 million richer to celebrate the new year.

Shortly after the Times Square ball drop officially welcomed in 2022, MRC Live and Alternative and POWERBALL announced Brian Mineweaser to be 2022’s first $1 million winner prize winner!

Mineweaser has now joined the ranks of Carlos Mabry from Washington, D.C. and Blaine Marston from Passadumkeag, Maine, who were the respective 2021 and 2020 million dollar prize winners.

VIP No Empty Hands in 2022

To ramp up the excitement around the lucky draw, potential winners are gathered from across 29 participating U.S. lotteries with only five semi-finalists making it into the final draw on New Year’s Eve.

As part of the build-up to the lucky draw POWERBALL correspondent Jessie James Decker checks in with the would-be millionaires throughout the night. While only one person will ultimately take home a cool million in cash all five semi-finalists receive the following swag bag:

$10,000 cash prize
70-inch LED TV
High-end karaoke system
Premium 19” laptop
Deluxe dinner for eight valued at $500 from Party City

NYRE calls this the New Year's Eve party package as it allows the participants to celebrate the approaching new year with friends and loved ones while awaiting the outcome of the big draw.