CHICAGO – An Illinois Lottery player can’t believe his luck after winning $9,200,000 with Lotto – because he was actually trying to buy a ticket for a different game.
A ‘Lucky Lotto Player’ picked up a Lotto ticket on his way out of the grocery store and hit the jackpot, winning $9.2 million.
“It was a normal day, just like any other. I was picking up groceries at Jewel and on my way out the door, I decided to buy a lottery ticket,” explained the winner, who has requested to remain anonymous.
The winner earned his ‘Lucky Lotto Winner’ nickname after he explained how he ended up with the winning ticket. “I actually wanted to buy a ticket for a different game and the machine got stuck on Lotto. I was a bit frustrated. I said, ‘What is going on? The machine won’t give me the right game!’ So I decided I may as well buy the Lotto ticket.”
The jackpot-winning ticket was purchased at Jewel-Osco, located at 140 West Lake Street in Addison, for the Saturday, August 24 Lotto drawing. The lucky winner held onto the ticket for about a month before claiming his prize.
The winning ticket matched all six numbers in the August 24 Lotto drawing to score the $9.2 million jackpot prize. The winning numbers were: 2-15-21-29-42-44.
“The morning after the drawing, I scanned the ticket at a machine to check if it was a winner. When the machine showed the $9.2 million prize amount, I couldn’t believe it!,” shared the winner. “I looked at my wife and she was completely speechless. We are laughing over how angry I was at the broken machine – and we’re so grateful for how it all turned out.”
For selling the winning ticket, Jewel in Addison will receive a one percent bonus of the prize amount, or $92,000.
This is the second largest prize won with the Lotto game this year in Illinois. The largest Lotto prize this year was in February when an Illinois Lottery player won $10.4 million on a ticket bought in Park Ridge.
Lotto is an Illinois-only game that is played three times a week on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday.
Tickets for the game can be purchased in-store, online, or on the Illinois Lottery app. For more information or to buy tickets online, please visit IllinoisLottery.com.
And please remember, Lotto is a game of chance. Knowing the rules and odds of the games you play is an important part of responsible gaming. To learn more, visit the responsible gaming pages on the Illinois Lottery website: Illinois Lottery Responsible Gaming.
About the Illinois Lottery
The Illinois Lottery, founded in 1974, has contributed over $24 billion to the State’s Common School Fund in support of K-12 public education in Illinois since 1985. The Common School Fund is the Illinois Lottery’s primary beneficiary, receiving nearly 99% of Illinois Lottery proceeds. The Illinois Lottery also supports various specialty causes as described in the Illinois Lottery Law (20 ILCS 1605/21.4). For more information about the Illinois Lottery and the causes we support, please visit IllinoisLottery.com.