Winning $1 million lottery ticket bought at Crystal Lake gas station

An Amoco gas station in Crystal Lake sold a $1 million winning lottery ticket, the Illinois Lottery said on Thursday.

The ticket was bought at the station at 339 W. Virginia St., located on Route 14 and McHenry Avenue. It matched all five numbers, 1-3-13-22-26, to win the jackpot during Wednesday evening’s drawing.

In a news release, the Illinois Lottery encouraged the winner to sign the back of the ticket and keep it in a safe place until he or she can visit one of the lottery’s five prize centers. These are in Chicago, Des Plaines, Rockford, Springfield and Fairview Heights. Winners have one year from the original drawing date to claim their prize.

More than 39,300 other prizes, ranging from $1 to $200, were won in this Lucky Day Lotto drawing. In all, players won more than $1,149,000 in this drawing, according to the Illinois Lottery.

Hemendra Shah, owner of the Crystal Lake Amoco Station, as well as gas stations in Elgin, Rockford and Beach Park, said he was “very excited.”

“I’m going to get more customers,” Shah said Thursday.

Shah said the store gets about $5,000 to $7,000 a week from lottery sales, and now thinks he can double that amount now. He plans on hanging a banner from the Illinois Lottery announcing the $1 million win on the station.

The Crystal Lake Amoco station will receive a $10,500 bonus, or 1% of the prize amount for selling the winning ticket, according to lottery protocol. Shah said he wants to use this money to upgrade the store, or maybe get more inventory.