‘I just won the lottery’: $550K jackpot Lucky Day Lotto winner already planning dream vacation

PLANO, Ill. — A Kendall County man celebrated a half-million-dollar jackpot last month, and he already has his sights set on a beach vacation.

According to officials from the Illinois Lottery, the big winner snagged a $550,000 jackpot prize after he matched all five numbers in a Lucky Day Lotto drawing on Sept. 27.

Officials said the winning numbers from the drawing were 3, 4, 6, 26 and 28.

Illinois Lottery offered details about the jackpot win on Friday, but said the big winner chose to remain anonymous.

Officials said the win came as a surprise to the lucky player and his wife, who he woke up just to share the news.

“I woke her up and asked, ‘Honey, where do you want to move? I just won the lottery!’ She started hyperventilating. I almost called 911,” the lotto winner said.

The couple spent little time deciding how they planned to spend the money and said a dream vacation is now on the horizon.

“We’re going to take a dream trip to Hawaii this winter to visit family and make the holidays unforgettable! This also sets us up nicely for retirement,” the winner said.

Believe it or not, this isn’t the first time the lucky player managed to claim a prize playing the game.

“Would you believe this isn’t my first big win, I actually won $50,000 on Lucky Day Lotto back in 2001, so to win again is just amazing,” the big winner said.

The lucky player is not the only one celebrating.

The ticket was sold at Plano Liquor and Wine, in the 400 block of South Street in Plano, Illinois, and as a bonus for selling the life-changing ticket, the store will receive a $5,500 prize, equal to 1% of the total prize amount.

Lucky Day Lotto, which is exclusive to Illinois, is a game that draws twice a day, at 12:40 p.m. and 9:22 p.m., and tickets can be purchased in-store, online, or on the Illinois Lottery app.

Lucky Day Lotto costs $1 per game and players have a 1 in 12 chance of winning a prize, but the jackpot odds are much higher at 1 in 1,221,759. For $1 extra, players can also add EZmatch numbers to their ticket for a chance to claim an extra prize.

Lottery officials said more than 24,000 winning tickets were sold for Sunday’s midday drawing, which amounted to more than $963,000 in prizes. Aside from the one jackpot ticket worth $900,000, 54 of the players won $200, 1,766 won $15, and 20,383 won $1.

Illinois Lottery winners have one year from the date of winning to claim their prizes and players are advised to write their names on the backs of winning tickets and keep them in a safe place until they are ready to claim their prizes.