Check your lottery tickets if you recently bought them in the Chicago area -- they could be big winners.
Two $1 million lottery tickets were sold in the past five days, the Illinois Lottery announced Wednesday.
A ticket purchased at King Supermarket, 400 E. 41st St. in Chicago, won the Lotto Million 2 jackpot in Monday night’s drawing, according to the Illinois Lottery, with the winning ticket matching all six numbers, 3-21-26-36-45-49, to win the $1 million prize.
Another $1 million winning ticket was sold at Johnsons Lighthouse Pointe and Car Wash, 1 W. St. Charles Road in Villa Park, It matched all six Lotto Million 1 numbers, 12-13-23-39-49-50, in the Jan. 15 drawing.
Joel Johnson, store manager of Johnsons Lighthouse Pointe and Car Wash, told the Illinois Lottery he hopes they know the winner.
"Our store has been a fixture of the community since 1991, so most of our customers are local," said Johnson. "I don’t know who won, but I hope that it’s someone from our hometown."
Retailers that sell winning tickets get a cash bonus of one percent of the prize amount, which means $10,000 each for these two $1 million winning tickets.
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The lottery noted the Villa Park retailer previously sold a winning $1 million instant ticket in 2004.
Johnson said he plans to use the bonus money to pay bills and share the winnings with staff.
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“The selling bonus couldn’t have come at a better time,” Johnson said. “We’re going to use the majority of the money to pay bills impacted by the COVID pandemic, but also plan to share some of the winnings with our dedicated and loyal store employees.”
Neither winner has come forward yet to claim their prize, but the lottery notes they have one year from the date of the winning draw to do so.
"The Illinois Lottery encourages all lucky winners to write their name on the back of their ticket and keep it in a safe place until they’re ready to claim their prize," the lottery said in a release.
The next Lotto drawing is set for Thursday.
