Representative Andrew Gray (D – Anchorage) may have won $40,383 in the annual PFD education raffle. But because of government bureaucracy, officials from the Department of Revenue told the Landmine it could be a week before Gray knows if he won.

Gray confirmed he bought one $100 raffle ticket. But there are eight people with the name Andrew Gray registered to vote in the state. It’s not known if the other Andrew Grays purchased tickets. Revenue officials are not willing to give any information about who won because they say there is an audit process.

When the drawing occurred this afternoon in Lieutenant Governor Nancy Dahlstrom’s (R – Alaska) office in the Capitol, an Andrew Gray was drawn as the second place winner. Many in the room laughed when Gray’s name was called. Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum joked, “If it’s who we think he is, I think he’s buying lunch for some people.”

When Andrew Gray’s name was called, a ticket number was also read. But when someone buys a PFD education raffle ticket, they are not given their ticket number. In contrast, many privately run raffles give ticket stubs to players so they can know immediately if they won. But this is a government run operation.  

An official from the Department of Revenue told the Landmine they have no obligation to disclose information about the winners. Which is odd considering they do a public drawing and read the names of the winners.

First place this year was $80,767. Third place was $20,191. And fourth place was $10,095. 

The PFD Education Raffle was established in 2018 by the Alaska Legislature. 50% of the proceeds go to public education funding. 25% go to an education fund endowment. And 25% go to prizes. 

From the Department of Revenue’s website:

The 2024 Education Raffle had 9,341 entrants with a total of $934,100 to be disbursed. This means that $467,050 will go to public education this year, $233,525 will go into the Education Endowment Fund for future education support, and $233,525 will go to the Education Raffle Fund.