So Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced that his state is going to have a lottery for everyone that gets vaccinated, and the winner is going to get… wait for it…. ONE MILLION DOLLARS! And he’s doing it once a week FOR FIVE WEEKS! New Jersey is offering a free beer, New York is offering tickets to a minor league baseball game (in Erie County) and Ohio is offering ONE MILLION DOLLARS (said in Dr. Evil voice)! All these Governors and Mayors are trying to figure out a way to be the innovative, outside-the-box person who gets the media love for the next news cycle. DeWine just said, “Gov. Murphy, ‘ll see your free beer and raise you ONE MILLION DOLLARS!” He’s like the guy that sits in the back at an auction and lets people bid $25, $30, $35, and then he speaks up and says, “$10,000.” Auction over, you win DeWine.
I love this idea. Should we have to pay/bribe people to get vaccinated? Of course not. Is this the reality we are living in right now? It is. Look, I understand that on the surface this seems like a tremendous waste of money. But the reality is, that five million bucks is going to be spent one way or another - would silly PSA commercials and billboards be a better use of that money? This announcement generated more publicity than any PSA ever would. Someone on twitter did the math on this btw, when you buy a lottery ticket, you have a 1 in 175 million chance of winning that lottery. For Ohioans, they’ll have a 1 in 7 million chance to win this lottery, and that’s if everybody registers. I love it.