Photo Caption: Mary of Wood Dale, IL shows off her $400,000 winning Gold Standard Instant Ticket.
A suburban Chicago woman hit gold on a Gold Standard Illinois Lottery Instant Ticket, winning a jackpot prize worth a cool $400,000.
Mary from Wood Dale, Illinois bought the $5 Instant Ticket at her local Jewel-Osco grocery store at 343 W. Irving Park Rd. To her surprise, the winning ticket earned her the top prize of $400,000.
“When I scratched the instant ticket and saw $400,000, I was in total shock!” exclaimed Mary. “My husband said my face turned white and my jaw dropped. We truly couldn’t believe it, so we used the Illinois Lottery app to scan the barcode on the ticket and sure enough, we were holding a winning ticket worth $400,000 – we both screamed with joy!”
So far this year, nearly 47 million winning instant tickets have been sold in Illinois, netting lottery players over $1 billion.
“My mom, who lived to the age of almost 100, passed away a few years ago. When she was in her nursing home, I would bring her scratch-off lottery tickets and we would play them together. Not only did the excitement motivate her, but the arm movement was good therapy,” Mary reminisced. “I wish I could be sharing my exciting win with her today.”
When asked if she had any advice for Illinois Lottery players, Mary said, “First, you have to play and then you have to dream – luck can happen to anyone at any time – just like it happened to me.”
The Illinois Lottery currently offers more than 50 different Instant Ticket games at over 7,000 retail locations across Illinois.
The Illinois Lottery encourages all winners to write their name on the back of their ticket and keep it in a safe place until they’re ready to claim their prize. Winners should visit IllinoisLottery.com/winning for more information on how to claim their prizes.
About the Illinois Lottery
Founded in 1974, the Illinois Lottery has contributed over $24 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. For more information, visit IllinoisLottery.com.
