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The winner of the Nenana Ice Classic is the one who guesses the closest time/day when the tripod drops into the Tanana River. Photo by James Brooks/Flickr |
Alaska doesn’t have a state lottery, but it has something
far more fun and unique than Powerball or MegaMillions. It has the Nenana Ice
Classic.
Each year Alaskans try to guess the exact day, hour, and
minute the Tanana River ice will break up in Nenana, Alaska. Seriously.
A black-and-white-striped tripod is placed 300 yards from
shore near the Mears Memorial Bridge when the river freezes over in October or
November. The tripod is attached by rope to a clock in a watchtower on shore,
and when the ice melts (usually late April to early May) and the tripod falls
into the river, the clock stops and the winner of the Nenana Ice Classic is
determined.
More than $10 million in prize money has been awarded over
the 98 years the odd lottery has been in existence.
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The watch tower has the clock that is connected by a rope to the tripod sitting on the frozen river. Photo by James Brooks/Flickr |
Tickets for the Nenana Ice Classic are $2.50 each and are sold throughout the state from
February 1 to April 5. Last year’s jackpot was a record $363,627. It was
divided among 25 winning tickets that guessed April 25 at 3:48 p.m. After
taxes, each winner received $10,472.46, according to
the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
Like lotteries in other states, people sometimes pool their
money to try to win. Last year, 20 people from a financial firm each filled out
10 Nenana Ice Classic tickets, and it paid off with one guessing the right time.
“We do it every year and we laugh about it every year,” the
firm’s president, Therese Sharp, told the News-Miner. “We always say, ‘We’re
gonna win, we’re gonna win.’”
The Nenana Ice Classic originated in 1906 when Lee Oliver
came closest out of six entries and won what was said to be the equivalent to a
couple of rounds at the trading-post bar. It wasn’t until 1916 when the Nenana
Ice Classic really started to take off, however.
A group of railroad engineers revived the ice betting pool,
selling $801 worth of tickets to fellow workers and Nenana residents at Jimmy
Duke’s Roadhouse. After word spread of the unique lottery, tickets for the Nenana Ice Classic were sold
throughout Alaska and the Yukon territories in 1917, and it has grown into what
it is today: a fun and unique lottery.
The tripod currently is still standing.
Lottery Alaska is the same as the severe weather conditions! This is not the Euromillions!
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