The winning player, who has requested to remain anonymous, said her husband actually picked up the winning ticket as a gift for her. (Illinois Lottery)
Chicago
A lucky lottery player says they were shocked to discover their $25 scratch-off ticket turned into a $1 million.
According to the Illinois Lottery, a winning player, who has requested to remain anonymous, was given the winning ticket as a gift to her by her husband.
“My husband was on his way home from work and he knows I like crosswords and puzzles in general, so he bought me a $25 Diamond Crossword scratch-off lottery ticket,” the winner shared.
And that ticket ended up returning the $1 million scratch-off prize.
Lottery officials said the woman’s husband purchased the winning ticket at the Monee Tobacco store just outside of Chicago.
“The only people we’ve told so far are our kids,” the winner said. “Each of us had the same shocked reaction and didn’t believe we’d really won a million dollars.”
The lucky winner says they already know what they are going to do with the winnings.
“I’ve always dreamed of buying a house. It would be fabulous to finally say ‘We own this home.’ After taking care of a few other necessary purchases, choosing the perfect house for our family will be the top priority,” she said.
The Monee Tobacco store will also receive a selling bonus of $10,000.
Lottery officials said so far this year players have won more than $1 billion in prizes from Instant Ticket games.