Winning $3M lottery ticket sold in Chicago

CHICAGO - A tourist visiting Chicago took home more than just photos and souvenirs after winning a $3.1 million jackpot on an Illinois Lottery ticket during a recent trip.

The winner, who asked to remain anonymous, hit the jackpot playing the FastPlay Ultimate Diamond Jackpot game. 

The winning ticket, worth $3,188,104, was purchased at Komal Wine and Liquors, located at 4628 N. Cumberland Ave., near O’Hare International Airport.

What they're saying:

"I’ve been to Chicago before, but never had the chance to explore the tourist spots, so on this trip I made sure to see as much as I could," the winner said in a statement released by the Illinois Lottery. "I visited the Skydeck at Willis Tower, checked out some filming locations from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and of course, I couldn’t leave without seeing The Bean."

But the highlight of the trip came unexpectedly. After picking up a FastPlay ticket from a convenience store, the winner returned to their hotel and discovered they had won the jackpot.

"It was a moment of shock and awe, and I completely froze," they said.

While visiting Illinois, this lucky winner picked up a winning FastPlay Ultimate Diamond Jackpot lottery ticket worth over $3 million.

The tourist said the winnings couldn’t have come at a better time, as they are currently facing a housing transition after learning their landlord plans to sell the apartment they’ve been renting.

"I’ve been wanting to buy a house for a while, but with how expensive real estate is these days, it just hasn’t been possible," they said. "I feel incredibly lucky – this win couldn’t have come at a better time."

Komal Wine and Liquors will receive a bonus of over $31,000 for selling the winning ticket.

Ultimate Diamond Jackpot is a FastPlay progressive game that starts with a jackpot of $75,000 and increases with each ticket sold statewide. So far this year, the game has produced more than 395,000 winning tickets, paying out over $26 million in prizes to players.