When a Lycoming County resident who plays the PA Lottery walked into a small-town convenience store earlier this month, they didn’t expect to walk out with a Fast Play ticket worth close to $1 million.
But luck was on their side that day, and the hefty prize landed a spot on our list of this year’s top five largest Fast Play jackpots in PA. It’s been a hot year so far for Fast Play prizes, so we’re taking a look at the top winners from the first half of the year.
Top 5 PA Lottery Fast Play prizes of 2022
No. 1 Fast Play jackpot: $1.92 Million
Game: Top Dollar
Just last month, the largest Fast Play jackpot in PA Lottery history made headlines, when a player in Lackawanna County hit the $1.92 million prize. The winning ticket was sold on Saturday, May 28, in Carbondale.
Top Dollar’s Grand Prize had been growing since the last time a player hit the jackpot in June 2021 – almost a full year. Lottery retailer Convenient Food Mart in Carbondale received a $10,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.
No. 2 Fast Play jackpot: $1.25 million
Game: Jackpot Party
The second-highest Fast Play prize so far this year was claimed in January by lottery player Mary S., of Allegheny County. The $1.25 million–winning Jackpot Party ticket was sold at a Sheetz store in Montgomery, Lycoming County. That retailer also earned a $10,000 bonus.
Jackpot Party is a $20 game with a progressive jackpot that starts at $300,000. The current prize is estimated near $650,000 at the time of this writing. Jackpot Party can also be played online at the PA iLottery. The game will close once the current jackpot is hit.
No. 3 Fast Play jackpot: $969,680
Game: Cash Stampede
The No. 3 jackpot went to an out-of-state player visiting Philadelphia. This game went almost exactly a year with no jackpot winner, giving the Grand Prize time to reach nearly $1 million.
Cash Stampede had a price of $10 and offered progressive top prizes starting at $100,000. That game is now closed.
Ryan P. of New York hit the Cash Stampede jackpot after buying the ticket at Sunoco on Walnut Lane in Philly. The retailer bonus was $5,000 for selling the winning ticket.
No. 4 Fast Play jackpot: $862,803
Game: Pennsylvania Progressive
This big prize hit in a small town and goes to show that crazy jackpot wins can happen to anyone. This winning ticket was sold on June 14 at Dandy Mini Mart in Jersey Shore, Lycoming County. The store received a $5,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.
A more expensive ticket, Pennsylvania Progressive costs $30, but offers progressive top prizes starting at a whopping $500,000! It’s a newer game, so it will be on sale until two more players hit the top prize.
No. 5 Fast Play jackpot: $785,032
Game: Blank Check
Last on the list is the $785,000 jackpot hit on the game Blank Check on May 25 in Delaware County. Blank Check had a history of great jackpots, with the first one climbing over $1 million when it was hit in 2020. The second one was nearly as large as this Delaware County winner’s prize from May.
The Wawa store where the ticket was sold in Folcroft received a $5,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket. Blank Check was a $20 game that offered progressive top prizes starting at $200,000. That game is now closed.
What exactly are PA Lottery Fast Play games?
As far as game rules, Fast Play games are played just like scratch-offs. The big difference is that Fast Play tickets are printed right when you buy them, and there’s no need to scratch anything.
Similar to scratch-offs, you might have a set of your numbers and a set of winning numbers to match up in order to win a prize. Another game style familiar to scratch-off players is the connect-style game, where you hope to match a row of identical symbols in order to win the associated prize.
You can ask for them at any PA Lottery retailer, or get them online with the PA iLottery.
Another difference between scratchers and Fast Play is that some Fast Play top prizes continue to pile up as tickets are sold. This is what’s known as a progressive jackpot.
Progressive jackpots are typically offered on draw games, where tickets are sold between drawings, driving the jackpot prize higher and higher. But with Fast Play, you don’t have to wait for a drawing to see if you’ve won.
How it feels to win the PA Lottery
While many of the winners on this list either haven’t claimed their prize yet, or have chosen to stay under the radar, the PA Lottery highlights some winners on its website. A Fast Play winner from last year recently shared her experience.
Marilyn D. of Bucks County won over $1.29 million on a Diamond Mine ticket she purchased at a local Wawa. She didn’t believe her eyes when she saw the matching numbers. Hilariously, her first instinct was to get out of there.
“My initial instinct, when I saw the numbers come up, put me into flight or flight mode – I threw the ticket in my purse and I ran out the door,” she recounted.
She got her son on the phone to tell him the big news. She said, “My heart was racing, my legs felt weak, that’s when he told me to sit down. I was so excited, I danced down the street!”
Things have since calmed down for Marilyn and her family, as they’ve started to put the money to good use for typical things like retirement and a vacation.
“I don’t think it’s hit us yet. Right now, we just want to realize it all for a minute, it’s really incredible.”
Incredible, yes. But lottery dreams do come true for some, like the big winners on this list. In fact, in the previous fiscal year, the PA Lottery paid out a record $3.5 billion in prizes to players of traditional lottery games.
PA Lottery Fast Play games aren’t a bad way to take your chance for a piece of the pie.
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