Illinois Lottery player wins $1M on scratch-off ticket from gas station

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A lucky Illinois Lottery player won $1 million, the top prize on the Jumbo Bucks scratch-off ticket | Illinois Lottery

RIVER GROVE, Ill. - A spur-of-the-moment trip to buy a soda ended with a life-changing surprise for one Illinois Lottery player who won the $1 million top prize on a $10 Jumbo Bucks scratch-off ticket.

The winner, who dubbed himself "Fateful 56," bought the ticket at a Shell gas station at 2474 N. Thatcher Ave. in River Grove The retailer will receive a $10,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.

What they're saying:

"When I scratched the ticket at home and realized I’d won a million dollars, I was in total shock—but my wife was even more stunned," said the winner. "She didn’t believe me at all until I scanned it in the app. Even then, she thought I was joking."

The nickname "Fateful 56" comes from both the winning number and the winner’s age. In a strange twist, the man’s friend replied to news of the win with a photo of his motorcycle license plate: also "56."

The winner picked the ticket because he thought it was hunting-themed. "I saw the word ‘Bucks’ and thought it was about deer hunting," he joked.

Jumbo Bucks is part of a recently launched series of scratch-offs, which includes tickets ranging from $1 to $20 with top prizes up to $2 million. So far this year, 25 Illinois Lottery players have won $1 million or more on scratch-offs, with more than $610 million awarded across 23 million winning tickets statewide.

Scratch-offs are available at roughly 7,000 retailers across Illinois.