Ingleside Resident Wins $5,000,000 Lotto Prize

INGLESIDE, IL – An Ingleside man won $5,000,000 when his Lotto ticket matched all six numbers – 24 - 27 - 28 - 39 - 41 - 46 – in the Monday, August 19, drawing.

The winner, a former automotive racing crew chief who requested anonymity at the time of his claim, is going to invest his winnings to help fund the business he always has dreamed about.

“I plan to invest in me and, finally, own my own automotive business,” he said.  “I will work harder than I ever have before.”

The winner has been playing the Illinois Lottery since its inception in 1974, and he has been purchasing tickets from the same retailer for years.

The winning Lotto ticket was bought at A & N Liquors, 34780 Catherine St., in Ingleside.  The retailer will receive a bonus of $50,000, or one percent of the prize of amount, for selling the winning ticket.

“He always wishes me luck when he hands me the tickets,” the winner said.  “And when I went to check my tickets, we had someone else read the number back to us because we couldn’t believe it!”

The winner also plans to share his winnings with his family and was excited to share the news with his sister. “I called her right away and asked her to take a seat, and she thought I was joking and couldn’t believe it!”

“You can’t be greedy with found money,” he said.  “I am going to enjoy some of the money and then I’ve got to spread it around.”

More than 53,700 prizes, ranging from $1 to $1,460, were won in this Lotto drawing. In all, players won more than $5,131,300 in this drawing. Lotto drawings are Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 9:22 p.m. CST. For more information or to subscribe online, please visit illinoislottery.com.

About the Illinois Lottery:

Founded in 1974, the Illinois Lottery has contributed over $21 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, police memorials 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.