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Illinois Woman Wins $1 Million On A Scratch-Off Lottery Ticket Sold In Monee, Plans To Buy Her Family A House

August 13th, 2024

CHICAGO, August 13, 2024 – An Illinois Lottery player and her entire family were shocked and in disbelief to discover her $25 scratch-off lottery ticket revealed the top prize of $1 million.

The winning player, who has requested to remain anonymous, said her husband actually picked up the winning ticket as a gift for her.

“My husband was on his way home from work and was so tired that day he didn’t want to stop at the store,” shared the lucky winner. “He knows I like crosswords and puzzles in general, so he bought me a $25 Diamond Crossword scratch-off lottery ticket.”

The $1 million winning scratch-off ticket was purchased at Monee Tobacco, located at 5701 West Monee Manhattan Road, Suite 103, in Monee, Ill., a south suburb of Chicago.

“The only people we’ve told so far are our kids,” explained the winner. “Each of us had the same shocked reaction and didn’t believe we’d really won a million dollars.”

As for what the lucky winner will do with her top prize? “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.”

This is also a big win for Monee Tobacco, as the store will receive a selling bonus of one percent of the prize amount, or $10,000.

So far in 2024, more than 39 million winning Illinois Lottery Instant Tickets have been sold, netting players over $1 billion in prizes.

The Illinois Lottery currently offers a range of Instant Ticket games priced from $1 to $50, available at approximately 7,000 retail locations across Illinois.

Instant Tickets b-roll available for use by the media; download here.

Be Smart, Play Smart®. Must be 18 or older to play. Game odds available at IllinoisLottery.com.

About the Illinois Lottery

The Illinois Lottery, founded in 1974, has contributed over $24 billion to the State’s Common School Fund in support of K-12 public education in Illinois since 1985. The Common School Fund is the Illinois Lottery’s primary benefactor, receiving nearly 99% of Illinois Lottery proceeds. The Illinois Lottery also supports various specialty causes as described in the Illinois Lottery Law (20 ILCS 1605/21.4). For more information about the Illinois Lottery and the causes we support, please visit IllinoisLottery.com.