Illinois lotto players: Check your tickets. No, you didn't hit the massive Powerball or Mega Millions jackpots still up for grabs Wednesday and Friday, but you may have won up to $300,000 thanks to winning tickets in other games.
According to the Illinois Lottery, one Lucky Day Lotto ticket from Tuesday's drawing sold in Chicago at the Beverley Hills Food Mart, located at 2156 W. 95th St., hit the jackpot to win $300,000.
In the state's Pick 4 game Tuesday, nearly 20 players won $2,500. And more than 200 Pick 3 tickets sold this week in Illinois won at least $250.
Tuesday's Mega Millions drawing didn't see any big winners in Illinois, but tickets sold in California, Florida, Maryland, New York, Rhode Island and Ohio all scored at least $1 million.
In Monday's Powerball drawing, five winning tickets sold in Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, New York and Pennsylvania pulled in $1 million each, and three winning tickets in Arkansas, Georgia and Texas matched enough numbers to win $2 million each.
But none of that compares to the $1 billion Powerball jackpot up for grabs in the next drawing, scheduled for Wednesday at 9:59 p.m. CT. And ahead of the big game, one convenience store in Illinois is set to give away 1,000 Powerball tickets, but there's a catch -- literally.
According to the Illinois lottery, a "Powerball Ticket Grab Challenge" will take place Wednesday morning at Kostner Korner in Skokie, one of the state's "top five 'winningest' Powerball stores in Illinois." During the challenge, players can enter a "money machine" and attempt to catch as many Powerball tickets as they can.
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According to officials, all participants must be 18 years of age or older to play.
The challenge will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 pm. at Kostner Korner, located at 4356 W. Howard St. in Skokie.
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According to lottery officials, these five Illinois lottery retailers have sold the most winning Powerball tickets in 2023:
- Lucky Mart: 2900 W. 87th St., Chicago
- Mares Mini Mart & Deli: 7850 W. Addison, St., Chicago
- Glenwood Amstar: 18659 S. Halsted. St., Chicago
- Kostner Korner: 4356 W. Howard St., Skokie
- JD Food and Liquor: 10147 Roosevelt Rd., Westchester
Powerball drawings, played in 45 states and held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, have gone without a jackpot winner for months. The last time a Powerball jackpot was last hit was April 19, 2023, when a ticket in Ohio matched all five white balls and the red Powerball to win a grand prize worth $252.6 million.
MORE: Winning Lottery ticket worth $900K sold in Chicago suburbs
The largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history stands at $2.04 billion and was won by a single Powerball ticket in California on Nov. 7, 2022.
The jackpot for the Mega Millions lottery game currently sits at $720 million, after no ticket hit the jackpot Tuesday. Last summer, a winning Mega Millions ticket worth $1.34 billion was sold in suburban Des Plaines.
Drawings for the Mega Millions lottery games take place Tuesdays and Fridays at 10 p.m. CT.
