WEST FRANKFORT — West Frankfort resident Steven Repp instantly won $2 million when he scratched a 100X instant ticket.
Repp, a retired Navy veteran, was making a quick stop at Circle K, 1300 W. Main St., in West Frankfort and decided to purchase an instant ticket. He got carried away chatting with employees, when he realized he still hadn’t scratched his ticket.
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“Normally I don’t scratch the prizes until I know I have a matching number,” Repp said. “When I saw I had an 11, I scratched off the prize and was in shock. I called my wife, told her I was having a heart attack and that she needed to meet me outside right away.”
When Repp showed his wife the winning ticket, she was overjoyed at what she initially thought was only a $200,000 win.
“I told her to look again and add a zero,” Repp said. “She was like, ‘No way, you won $2 million?!’”
Repp quickly signed the back of his ticket and made his way to an Illinois Lottery claim center.
“It didn’t really sink in until we made it to the claim center,” Repp said. “Since then, it has been amazing.”
The Repps plan to use their windfall to pay off their home and take a cruise.
The retailer received a bonus of $20,000, or one percent of the prize amount, for selling the winning ticket. 100X is a $20 instant ticket that features three top prizes of $2,000,000, one of which has not been claimed. For more information on Illinois Lottery games, please visit illinoislottery.com.
About the Illinois Lottery:
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.
