A suburban Bartlett man is the proud holder of a ticket that won $1 million in Tuesday’s Mega Millions drawing, but he’s far from alone in claiming the prize money.
Donald Gant told NBC Chicago that he rarely stops at the BP gas station off of Route 59 where he purchased the winning ticket on Tuesday, but said he had a good feeling about the drawing.
“I said ‘hey, you know, the lottery is over a billion dollars,’ so I said ‘hey guys, let’s get together, let’s try to see if we can win.’”
That is exactly what he and 39 other coworkers did, turning a ticket into a $1 million prize in matching five of the drawing’s numbers.
Needless to say, Gant was skeptical about the win when coworkers began texting him.
“My phone kept going, all morning long,” he said. “All my coworkers kept calling me ‘Don, we won! We won!’ I’m like guys….get out of here.”
Gant returned to the gas station on Wednesday to meet with a representative from the Illinois Lottery to verify the ticket, but more importantly, to thank the employee who sold it to him.
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“I feel lucky too, for giving somebody a million dollars,” Navi Dhillon, who sold Gant the ticket, said.
Gant says that he is going to split the lottery prize evenly with all his coworkers, with each getting $25,000.
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“I am really happy for the people I work with. They are just such a strong unit and it’s such a blessing when you get something to share,” he said.
So, the $25,000 question is what Gant is planning to do with his share.
“First of all, I will donate my 10% to my church,” he said. “I have a grandson, my first grandchild, so I have to put something away for him. And my son and his wife are working to purchase a home, so we can all help out.”
The gas station will also receive a bonus for selling the winning ticket, meaning that dozens of Bartlett residents are feeling just a little bit luckier on Wednesday.
