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"Millions" with an "s" certainly has a nice ring to it!
One extremely fortunate Illinois resident is officially millions (yes, with an "s") of dollars richer after guessing all six numbers correctly as part of Saturday (September 28) Lotto drawing!
According to the Illinois Lottery, the winner, whose identity has yet to be revealed, won a whopping $4.1 million from a ticket purchased at Jay’s Fresh Market in Stone Park, just outside of downtown Chicago.
Market owner Minesh Patel could hardly believe the news. In fact, when word of the win first got around, Patel thought it was a joke.
"When we first heard the news, we thought it was fake or a joke. But the morning after the drawing, a customer came in and said 'Did you see? Somebody won the Lotto jackpot last night and they bought their ticket here!' That’s when we realized it was real – I was so surprised and excited."
The owner continued:
"While I have no idea who the winner is, I really hope it’s one of our regular customers, most of whom we know by name."
The lottery winner is certainly not the only one to benefit from their recent stroke of luck as Jay's Fresh Marker will also receive a $41,0000 bonus just for being the store to sell the winning ticket! As for what the store plans to do with the money, Patel revealed:
"We are looking forward to using the bonus to make improvements and updates to our business. We especially want to increase our security and technology to keep our store and our staff safe. We have five loyal employees who have been with us since we opened our doors in 2017."
Illinois Lottery reported that this particular Jay's Fresh Market is no stranger to selling winning tickets. The location actually sold a $75,000 winning ticket just a few years back.