Man wins $9M jackpot with Lotto ticket he didn’t mean to buy
An Illinois lottery ticket machine that got stuck on Lotto led to a big jackpot for one lucky player.
The winner, who was trying to buy a ticket for a different game, won $9,200,000 in Lotto, even though he had hoped to play another game.
"It was a normal day, just like any other. I was picking up groceries at Jewel and on my way out the door, I decided to buy a lottery ticket," said the winner, who is remaining anonymous.
The winner earned the 'Lucky Lotto Winner' nickname after he explained how he ended up with the winning ticket. "I actually wanted to buy a ticket for a different game and the machine got stuck on Lotto. I was a bit frustrated. I said, 'What is going on? The machine won't give me the right game!' So, I decided I may as well buy the Lotto ticket."
The ticket was purchased at a Jewel-Osco in Addison for the Saturday, August 24 Lotto drawing. The winner held onto the ticket for about a month before claiming his prize.
The winning ticket matched all six numbers in the August 24 Lotto drawing to take the $9.2 million jackpot prize. The winning numbers were: 2-15-21-29-42-44.
"The morning after the drawing, I scanned the ticket at a machine to check if it was a winner. When the machine showed the $9.2 million prize amount, I couldn't believe it," said the winner. "I looked at my wife and she was completely speechless. We are laughing over how angry I was at the broken machine – and we're so grateful for how it all turned out."
The Jewel-Osco in Addison will receive a one percent bonus of the prize amount, or $92,000 for selling the winning ticket. This is the second largest prize won with the Lotto game this year in Illinois. The largest Lotto prize this year was announced in February when an Illinois Lottery player won a $10.4 million jackpot on a ticket bought in Park Ridge.
Lotto is an Illinois exclusive game that is played three times a week on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Tickets can be bought in stores, online or on the Illinois Lottery app. For more information or to buy tickets online, click here .
