MIDDLETOWN, Pa. — Ticket sales began yesterday for the 17th Millionaire Raffle, offering the Pennsylvania Lottery’s best odds for winning a $1 million prize. Overall, the game offers 6,000 cash prizes totaling more than $5 million.

Each $20 ticket offers a 1-in-125,000 chance of winning $1 million, and there are four top prizes of that amount. The overall odds of winning any prize are 1-in-83.33.

“Our players truly enjoy playing Millionaire Raffle, evidenced by the fact that our 16 previous Millionaire Raffles all sold out,” said Lottery Executive Director Todd Rucci. “These tickets make a great holiday gift idea for players age 18 or over.”

Only 500,000 tickets will be sold. Tickets will be available until 5 p.m. on the drawing date, Saturday, January 4, 2014, or until sold out.

The first Millionaire Raffle ticket was sold at 5:15 a.m. yesterday at Bob’s Floral Shop, 340 Delaware Ave., Palmerton, Carbon County.

Players should immediately sign the back of all tickets and keep them in a safe place until the drawing.

Each raffle ticket features a unique, eight-digit number issued sequentially as tickets are sold across the state. The first ticket sold today carried number 00000001, and the final ticket sold will carry number 00500000.

To be considered a winning ticket, the number on a Millionaire Raffle ticket must exactly match a winning number selected in the raffle drawing, and all digits must appear in the same sequence as the winning number.

Winning Millionaire Raffle numbers will be randomly selected at 6:59 p.m. on Jan. 4, 2014. The Lottery’s live drawing show will televise the selection of four $1 million, top-prize ticket numbers and four $100,000, second-prize ticket numbers.

The remaining 100 winning numbers for prizes of $1,000 each and 5,892 winning numbers for prizes of $100 each also will be selected, but will not be televised live due to time constraints. In total, 6,000 prizes worth $5,089,200 will be awarded.

Players may visit www.palottery.com to review a list of winning numbers following the drawing. Players may also check Millionaire Raffle tickets at Pennsylvania Lottery retailers.

Millionaire Raffle Pool Play forms are available on www.palottery.com for the convenience of players who choose to pool their ticket purchases with friends.

For more information, visit www.palottery.com.