Chicago Resident Wins $20.8 Million Illinois Lottery Prize
CHICAGO, IL — One Chicago man got a lucky start to the new year when he scratched a 20X20 ticket and instantly won the top prize of $20,000 a week for 20 years, resulting in a total prize of $20,800,000.
This big winner said he has been a regular Lucky Day Lotto player for 18 years but never had won a big prize. A co-worker consistently had been trying to convince him to take a chance on an instant ticket, but he never did. One day, however, while the two were at Plaza Food & Liquor, 3459 W. Ogden Ave., in Chicago, the co-worker was successful in convincing him, and the lucky player purchased his first $20 scratch ticket, which turned out to be his winning 20X20 ticket.
“I plan to buy a house and start my own business,” he said. “This winning ticket is my chance at living the American dream.”
The retailer, Plaza Food & Liquor, received a bonus of $208,000, or one percent of the prize amount, for selling the winning ticket. For more information on Illinois Lottery games, please visit illinoislottery.com.
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Founded in 1974, the Illinois Lottery has contributed over $20 billion (since 1985) to the state’s Common School Fund to assist K-12 public schools, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars to the Capital Projects Fund and to special causes like Illinois Veterans services, the fight against breast cancer, MS research, Special Olympics and assistance for people living with HIV/AIDS. In addition to playing in-store, the Illinois Lottery offers online and mobile play for all draw-based Illinois Lottery games at illinoislottery.com. Players must be at least 18 years old.