CHICAGO — If you purchased a Lotto® ticket in Chicago’s Ashburn neighborhood, you might want to check your numbers — you could be the state’s newest millionaire.
The winning ticket was sold at Lucky Mart, located at 2900 W. 87th Street, and matched all six Lotto Million 1 numbers in the Thursday, May 7 drawing: 5-8-13-44-48-50.
A fixture in the community for over 40 years, Lucky Mart is a go-to destination for lottery players. Store owner Abed Ayesh believes the winning ticket was likely purchased by a familiar face.
“We see over 500 customers daily and know many of them by name,” said Ayesh. “While we don’t know who the winner is yet, I have a strong feeling it’s a regular Lotto player from our area. We can’t wait to celebrate with them.”
Retailers who sell winning lottery tickets also have a good reason to celebrate as these wins bring their business a cash selling bonus of one percent of the prize amount. For Lucky Mart, that means a $10,000 bonus, which Ayesh plans to share with the community.
“I was already planning to donate to a local kids’ baseball league, but now they’ll receive an even bigger contribution,” he said.
The lucky Lotto winner has one year from the date of the drawing to claim their prize.
This win marks the fifth time this year an Illinois Lottery player has won $1 million or more playing Lotto. To date, Illinois Lottery players have claimed more than 2.1 million winning Lotto tickets, totaling nearly $27.8 million in prizes.
Lotto is an Illinois-only game that is played three times a week on Monday, Thursday and Saturday. The estimated jackpot for the Saturday, May 9 drawing is $4.85 million. Tickets for the game can be purchased in-store, online, or on the Illinois Lottery app.
