“Gotta’ play to win.” “Gotta be in it, to win it.” Pick whatever phrase you want, but we, at Athlon Outdoors, always tell you our sweepstakes are very real. We even compiled a complete winners list to satisfy those who still complain (because they don’t win out of thousands of entrants). From “Free Gun Friday” to our Ballistic “Custom Challenge,” there’s always something up for grabs. Well, this past winter we took things to a whole new level with our “Shoot for $1 Million” sweepstakes.
The First-Ever “Shoot for $1 Million” Sweepstakes
In case you couldn’t figure it out, with our sweepstakes we gave away tons of prizes with the grand prize being a chance to … drum roll … shoot for $1 million. So just how many people entered? In total, we saw more than 116,000 unique entries. However, we also gave entrants ways to receive multiple entries. With that factored in, there were more than 1.2 million total entries. So a big “thank you” to all who participated and congrats to the winners (some of whom we’re still contacting).
There were also a ton of sponsors who came on board and made this program a reality. Special shoutout to Smith & Wesson and Sportsman’s Warehouse, our two presenting sponsors who also provided a bunch of giveaway items. Other sponsors included the Kahr Firearms Group, Walther, Riton Optics, Umarex, and Browning.
But what about the prizes? The grand prize finalist automatically received a Smith & Wesson firearms package and a $5,000 gift card to Sportsman’s Warehouse. The Smith & Wesson package included a Performance Center Model 327 revolver, a Smith & Wesson M&P 10 6.5 Creedmoor Rifle, and a Smith & Wesson M&P9 M2.0 4-Inch Compact. But that’s obviously not it. The grand prize finalist also received an expense-paid trip for two to Phoenix and the chance to shoot for $1 million. However, if the finalist fell short of the big prize, they got a consolation shooting attempt to double the Sportsman’s Warehouse gift card prize to $10,000.
There were also tons of other prizes available; actually, there were 27 prizes in total and 50 guns up for grabs. Check out the entire list of prizes here on BallisticMag.com. But let’s get to the actual shoot.
The Grand Prize Shoot
Our grand prize finalist was 33-year-old Alexander Sikes of Las Vegas. The irony that he lives in Las Vegas but had to leave the city to potentially win $1 million isn’t lost on us. Alexander and his brother joined us in mid-April at the Cowtown Range in Peoria, Ariz. After receiving some instruction and practicing with our host, Sean Utley, we put 20 targets in front of Alexander, but only two contained the grand prize envelopes. He had to hit BOTH targets in order to win. How’d he do? Watch the video at the top of this post.
After he wrapped up the shoot, Alexander also had some guaranteed money from Sportsman’s Warehouse. So Alexander and Sean went over to the local store and went on a serious shopping spree. Watch that video below. Again, if you entered, thank you! And if you’re disappointed you didn’t win, don’t worry — we have plenty more in store for you in the future!
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