Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Wednesday that they are 'looking at' holding a lottery for New Yorkers that are vaccinated against COVID-19 similar to the one in Ohio. The lottery in Ohio is offering $1 million to multiple winners.
"We are talking about whether that kind of approach would add something,"de Blasio said to the press. "We’re looking at models around the country and a lottery type idea is real interesting, so we’ll be assessing that and we’ll have more to say on that soon."
This idea is similar to what Ohio is doing right now. Last week the Ohio Governor, Mike DeWine announced that they will be giving out $1million to five people who have received at least one dose of the vaccine. They are doing this through a lottery system!
So far New York has done a few things to reward people for getting the COVID-19 vaccine. This includes a free two-week membership to Citi Bike, free fries at Shake Shack, a free weekly MetroCard and a chance to win playoff tickets to see the Brooklyn Nets.
"Every day we’re seeing continuing progress on vaccination," de Blasio explained. "I think the number one reason that’s happening is because we’ve made it ever more convenient, more local, walk-in, mobile vaccination centers..... I think all of this is making it real easy for people."