The 17th annual STARS Lottery officially launches today with 3,080 prizes worth over $4.8 million. This year’s lottery kicks off STARS 25 Years of Care in the Air celebrations, with every ticket sold helping keep STARS in the sky.
“This year’s STARS Lottery kicks off our 25-year anniversary celebrations,” says Dr. Greg Powell.  “Thanks to community support, what began as an idea 25 years ago has grown into an important link in the emergency chain of survival with three bases serving 94 per cent of Alberta’s population.”
The STARS Lottery includes five grand prizes worth over $3.3 million retail, including four beautiful show homes in Calgary, Lethbridge, St. Albert and Sylvan Lake. The fifth prize is a ‘home away from home’ truck and trailer worth $114,000.
There are also two exceptional early bird packages to be won including a $100,000 cash prize, and a 2010 Mercedes SLK350 with a seven-day all-inclusive dream vacation for two at the 5-star Grand Sirens Resort on the Mayan Riviera, Mexico, plus $3,000 cash.
In addition to the grand and early bird prizes, there are 10 vehicles, 30 vacations, 2,148 electronic prizes, 350 cash prizes and 485 other prizes including jewellery and luggage.
STARS is a non-profit, charitable organization and relies on the lottery as the most significant funding source for mission operations.
“STARS has flown approximately 19,000 missions providing rapid access to emergency medical care and transport for the critically ill and injured,” says Dr. Powell.  “The STARS Lottery enables us to continue in our vision of saving lives through partnership, innovation and leadership.”
STARS provides services 24 hours a day, seven days a week with the familiar red BK117 helicopters from bases in Calgary, Edmonton and Grande Prairie. The anticipated arrival this year of the new AW139 helicopter will allow STARS to respond even farther and faster than before.
Lottery tickets are $25 each, 5 for $100 and 15 for $250 and are available by visitingwww.starslottery.ca or by calling 1-888-880-0992. Ticket buyers are eligible for all 3,080 prize draws. After each draw, winning tickets go back into the drum for the next prize draw. There are 50,000 single tickets for sale, 104,500 sets of 5 for $100 and 20,000 sets of 15 for $250 for a total of 872,500 tickets.
The early bird draw is April 6, 2010, with ticket sales cut off March 17, 2010 at midnight. The final draw is set for April 23, with ticket cut-off at midnight on April 7, 2010. If tickets sell out early, all prizes will be drawn on the early bird draw on April 6, 2010 with permission from the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission. The lottery license number is 284460.