CHICAGO – It’s been an incredible week of wins for Lotto players, as this in-state favorite brought back-to-back jackpot wins of $8.9 million and $2 million - welcoming even more multi-millionaires to the Land of Lincoln.
A ticket purchased at the Piggly Wiggly grocery store, at 460 Orchard St, in Antioch won the $8.9 million jackpot on Saturday, April 3. Then for the very next drawing, on Monday April 5, another in-state millionaire was made when the jackpot was struck again. That winning ticket was worth $2 million and was purchased at Lucky Mini Mart, at 4103 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago’s North Center neighborhood.
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These winning moments are life changing for players and also for the Illinois Lottery retailers who sell the winning tickets, as they receive a selling bonus as well. This win-win brings more reasons to celebrate as players help support local businesses across the State.
Dave Karczewski and his wife Debra own the Piggly Wiggly grocery store in Antioch where Saturday night’s winning ticket was sold. As a small, locally-owned business, Karczewski knows most of their players by name and is excited that one of them may be the lucky winner.
Piggly Wiggly, 460 Orchard St., Antioch
“We have sold Illinois Lottery tickets since the day we opened and the best part is listening to my customers talk about what they will do if they win. I always tell them that I just want to sell the winning ticket!” exclaimed Karczewski. The Karczewskis will receive a selling bonus of $89,000 for selling the $8.9 million winning ticket, which is going to be reinvested back into their business to help support a recent remodel of their store.
Sachin Patel is the owner of the Lucky Mini Mart in the North Center neighborhood of Chicago, which sold Monday night’s $2 million winning ticket. Patel was elated when he received the news that one of his customers was going to cash in on a top jackpot prize.
Lucky Mini Mart, 4103 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago
”The best part of selling Illinois Lottery tickets is our ability to give hope to all of our customers. When our customers play the lottery, we hope all of our customers win big,” said Patel. “This win also helps magnify the importance of small businesses in communities. Small businesses are a major pillar in the community and help anchor the neighborhood.“
The Lotto jackpot winners have yet to come forward to claim their prizes, and the Illinois Lottery urges these lucky winners to sign the back of their tickets and keep them in a safe place. Guidelines to claim prizes are available on the Illinois Lottery’s website. Winners have one year from the original drawing date to claim their prize.
These millionaire-making moments follow recent game improvements to Lotto introduced by the Illinois Lottery from Tuesday, March 30, giving players better prize odds and creating more millionaires in Illinois.
The game improvements give players additional chances to win million dollar jackpot prizes. Every ticket for each Lotto draw is automatically entered into two subsequent draws, giving players the chance to win two additional prizes of $1 million and these bonus draws follow the regular Lotto draw. Plus, the numbers that players can choose from have been reduced from 52 to 50, improving the odds and experience for players across all prize tiers.
Lotto is an Illinois-only game that is played three times a week on Monday, Thursday and Saturday, giving players multiple chances to win multi-million dollar jackpots.
For more information or to buy tickets online, please visit illinoislottery.com or download the Illinois Lottery app on your smartphone.
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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 homelessness prevention, Illinois Veterans services, the fight against breast cancer, Alzheimer’s, 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.
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