Louisiana Lottery Semifinalist Selected to Appear in Powerball First Millionaire of the Year Promotion Live on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve

In August, the Louisiana Lottery gave players the chance to be a “Powerball First Millionaire of the Year” when it joined other lotteries across the nation in participating in a promotional partnership between the multistate game and dick clark productions, which produces the live broadcast “Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2022” on ABC. During the promotion, five randomly selected finalists will appear on the show on New Year’s Eve for the chance to win $1 million in a special drawing just after midnight. Aaron S. Rose of Slaughter, La., was selected as one of those five finalists. 

“Powerball has already made more than 80 Louisiana millionaires,” said Lottery President Rose Hudson. “We look forward to combining the excitement of New Year’s Eve with the opportunity to cheer on Aaron to become our first millionaire of 2022!” 

As a finalist, in addition to the chance to win $1 million, Rose will also receive a “Celebrate@Home” New Year’s Eve party package, including a $10,000 cash prize, a deluxe dinner for eight, 70-inch LED TV, a karaoke system, premium laptop computer (with 20 mega-pixel digital camera, on-camera microphone, 19” ring light, and other accessories), $500 to spend at Party City and more. 

Rose, who moved to Louisiana from Connecticut to start a mechanical engineering job the weekend before Hurricane Katrina hit, said he has been playing Powerball regularly for about three years. “I use a combination of my wife and my birthdays and play 20 draws with Power Play,” he explained. “I like the multidraw. I got a little frustrated when they suspended it before adding the third Monday draw night.” But that’s when he learned about the Lottery’s Powerball First Millionaire of the Year promotion and got two bonus entries when he uploaded a picture of one of his tickets as part of his entry. 

A YouTube star who demonstrates restoration of older vehicles that are sentimental to him, Rose said his wife is more the “party person” in his family, but they both are looking forward to hosting a New Year’s Eve party at their home live on TV. If he wins the million dollars, Rose said he plans to use part of the funds to fully endow the Jimmy Don Owings First Responders Scholarship at Tarrant County Community College in Fort Worth in memory of his stepson, as well as pay off some bills and make some investments for the future. 

Participating lotteries held contests or drawings to select a designated number of semifinalists. The Louisiana Lottery submitted 29 semifinalist names. Ultimately, five finalists were randomly drawn from the national pool of 742 semifinalists in November.   

Finalists will be uplinked live from their homes on New Year’s Eve, and the million-dollar winner will be announced right after midnight. In addition to Rose, the other finalists are Linda Perkins of Aurora, Ill.; Robert Long of Waterloo, Iowa; Brian Mineweaser of Honey Brook, Pa.; and Shari Beenken of Titonka, Iowa. 

To become one of Louisiana’s semi-finalists, Louisiana residents at least 21 years of age entered the promotion via the Lottery’s website from Aug. 23 through Sept. 20 by providing contact information and sharing their favorite New Year’s Eve memory. While no purchase was required to enter, entrants earned one bonus entry by also uploading a photo of their Powerball ticket good for any drawing during the promotional period and two bonus entries if the ticket contained a Monday night drawing. There were more than 3,000 entries. 

The Lottery’s drawing was conducted on Oct. 4, and semifinalists were announced live on the Lottery's Facebook page Nov. 1. In addition to being named semifinalists in the national drawing, these winners also received a Louisiana Lottery New Year’s Eve party package including a Powerball insulated cooler with built-in rechargeable Bluetooth speakers to rock the night away.  

More information on the Lottery’s promotion and list of semifinalists can be found on its website at www.louisianalottery.com/first-millionaire-2022-powerball. More information on the national “Powerball First Millionaire of the Year” promotion can be found at www.powerballrockineve.com.  

Lottery ticket purchasers must be at least 21 years of age.  The Lottery encourages responsible play and urges anyone or friends of anyone with a gambling problem to call toll free 1-877-770-7867 for help.