Illinois Lottery player wins $1.15M off ticket purchased in Chicagoland

CHICAGO - An Illinois Lottery ticket worth $1.15 million was sold at a convenience store in far northwest suburban Harvard over the weekend.

What we know:

The winning Lucky Day Lotto ticket was purchased at Chemung Country Store, located at 24102 Route 173, for the Saturday evening drawing.

The winning numbers were 2-15-28-31-43.

What they're saying:

Mark Smith, co-owner of Chemung Country Store, said the shop has been part of the community for nearly four decades.

"Our customer base is largely made up of loyal, local customers, so we’re all hoping the winner is one of our regulars," Smith said in a statement.

For selling the jackpot-winning ticket, the store will receive a bonus equal to 1% of the prize — $11,500.

"Over the years, we’ve celebrated quite a few winners, but this is one of our biggest," Smith said, adding most of the bonus will go back into business and some will be used to reward staff for their work.

Big picture view:

Nearly 74,000 winning tickets were sold statewide in Saturday evening’s Lucky Day Lotto drawing, totaling more than $1.3 million in prizes.

Winners have one year from the draw date to claim their prize. The Illinois Lottery encourages winners to sign the back of their ticket and keep it in a safe place until they are ready to claim it.

Lucky Day Lotto is an Illinois-only game with drawings held twice daily at 12:40 p.m. and 9:22 p.m. Jackpots start at $100,000. Tickets can be purchased in stores, online or through the Illinois Lottery app.