Illinois woman wins $1 million after gas station customer gives her a lottery ticket
"Everything happens for a reason," the lucky jackpot winner said.
LOVES PARK, Ill. (WGN) — An Illinois woman was in "complete shock" after winning $1 million on a lottery ticket that a gas station customer gifted her earlier this week, lottery officials said.
The woman received the Lucky Day Lotto ticket from a regular customer at a Fas Mart in Loves Park, about 85 miles northwest of Chicago, according to a press release.
The ticket, which only cost $1, matched all five numbers for the midday drawing on Monday, April 22. The winning numbers were 3, 4, 6, 25 and 27.
Choosing to remain anonymous, the lucky jackpot winner hid her face when she took a photo with her big check.
"Everything happens for a reason," she told lottery officials when she claimed her prize.
The woman said that she plans to use the money to buy a new house and car, as well as support her grandfather. Any extra cash will go into her savings, she said.
For selling the winning ticket, the Fas Mart location will receive 1% of the prize amount: $10,000.
The odds of winning the Lucky Day Lotto jackpot are about 1 in 1.2 million. To put that into perspective, your chances of taking home the Powerball or Mega Millions grand prize is much slimmer: about 1 in 292.2 million and 1 in 302.6 million, respectively.
The Lucky Day Lotto is played only in Illinois, however, with twice-daily drawings. More than 4 million winning Lucky Day Lotto tickets have been sold so far this year, with players winning in excess of $22 million collectively, lottery officials said.