They don’t have a regular lottery but anyone can bet when the river ice breaks in the spring. This year it has passed but next year is available to bet.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/alaska-ice-lottery-nenana?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ef15cde87a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_05_14&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f36db9c480-ef15cde87a-71435681&mc_cid=ef15cde87a&mc_eid=0a6addef76
The closest I ever got when I lived in Alaska was 2 days before.
Break-up is a big deal in Alaska. It means that Winter is finally over and black fly/mosquito season is here!
Ice Out contests are pretty common in places where the rivers and lakes freeze over each winter. This one is a lottery, but many others have similar setups as fundraisers for various groups.
When I lived in Minnesota, there was a lake where a junker car got parked on the ice during the winter; people could place bets on the date at which the car would fall through the ice. Presumably some of the funds collected by the organizers were set aside for recovering the car from the water.
That’s the way they did it in Lake Wobegon, IIRC.
This subject was the central premise of my favorite episode of Northern Exposure.
Not to mention a significant plot point in American Gods.
As noted in the link, it’s called the Nenana Ice Classic (nee-nah’-nuh) after the town of Nenana. They put a tripod on the Tanana River (tah’-nuh-naw) ice that’s linked to a clock. When the tripod heads downstream, it stops the clock. I knew that it has been going on since before my birth, but wasn’t aware that it dates back to 1917. I’m also old enough to remember when slot machines were legal in Alaska, and even pinball machines paid off. Then came statehood, which meant they had to play by federal rules. Religious groups have kept gambling from coming back.
Note that the “nah” and the “tah” are pronounced like “baa”, with a short ‘a’.
Dana Stabenow would be proud.