Las Vegas man wins $1M during final ‘Vax Nevada Days’ raffle

One lucky Las Vegas man celebrated his 32nd birthday Thursday with a $1 million jumbo check at the final installment of the “Vax Nevada Days” drawings.

Gov. Steve Sisolak presented Halim Porras a check for $1 million during the Thursday event, while an anti-vaccine protester yelled through a megaphone and was tackled by security. The drawing, which also included $250,000 and $100,000 cash prizes, was held at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Sen. Jacky Rosen, Rep. Dina Titus, state Treasurer Zach Conine and Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority CEO and President Steve Hill were in attendance.

Families cheered and screamed as the winners were announced, and Porras said he started to realize he may have won the grand prize as more names were called for the smaller prizes.

When he went to get his vaccine this year, he never expected to win a prize, Porras said, never mind one worth this much. He said he got his shot as soon as he was able, because he has asthma and wanted to be as safe as possible.

“I’ll probably pay off my house, have some savings, help my family, and then we’ll probably go on vacation” Porras said of his plans for the money. “And I’m going to throw a big party tomorrow because it’s my birthday.”

Middle schoolers Briana F. and Joshua A., both of Las Vegas, won $50,000 college scholarships. The public health initiative has given out $5 million in cash and prizes to nearly 2,000 vaccinated Nevada residents this summer, the governor’s office said in a statement.

“I want to thank everybody, not just that was here tonight or our winners that we’ve had over the last eight weeks, but all 500,000 people that took the initiative to go get vaccinated,” Sisolak said. “I know you didn’t all win a prize, but everybody won because our community is safer, our families are safer, and we’re better off as a state as a result of that.”

Contact Alexis Ford at aford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0335. Follow @alexisdford on Twitter.