:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/KL2F3MXV3NGITNCZGKUZRNPYVM.jpg)
A winning Illinois Lottery ticket worth $500,000 was sold at the International House of Wine and Cheese in Richmond.
The ticket was bought for the Jan. 12 evening Lucky Day Lotto drawing, the Illinois Lottery announced Thursday.
Store owner Tom Jiaras said in a lottery news release that he was on vacation when he got the call from a lottery representative about the winning ticket sale.
“Everyone at our store is so excited! I’m especially happy for the lucky customer who won the jackpot. I hope they come back and tell us so we can share in their joyful moment, and maybe even get a picture together,” he said.
Jiaras added that while his store, located at 11302 Route 12, “may not look like your typical lottery retailer, being a wine and cheese store,” the shop has actually been selling lottery tickets since the game’s beginning 50 years ago. The shop – which will receive $5,000, or 1% of the prize, for selling the winning ticket – has been open since 1971, according to the release.
“It’s been such a joy to sell lottery tickets to our customers for so many years, and I’m excited to see how this big jackpot win may attract even more lottery customers to our store,” Jiaras said.
The winner matched all five numbers in the Jan. 12 evening drawing to score the $500,000 jackpot prize: 2-3-10-19-26.
Jiaras recalled a few years ago when the store sold a winning ticket worth $260,000.
“The customer came in and gave us his ticket to scan and check if he had won. I said, ‘It’s you! You’re the person we’ve been looking for!,' to which he said, ‘What are you talking about?’ I said ‘Didn’t you know? You won $260,000!’ He stood there, completely frozen, for five minutes. He was so blown away, he couldn’t move. It was such a funny and amazing experience to see firsthand.”
The Illinois Lottery reports that more than 21,500 winning tickets were bought for that Jan. 12 evening drawings, with total prizes at almost $560,000.
Lucky Day Lotto is an Illinois-only game with twice daily drawings at 12:40 p.m. and 9:22 p.m. Tickets for the game can be bought in-store, online or on the Illinois Lottery app. Go to the Illinois Lottery website for more details or to buy tickets: IllinoisLottery.com.
Winners have one year from the date of the winning draw to claim their prize. The Illinois Lottery advises players to write their name on the back of a winning ticket and keep it in a safe place until they’re ready to claim their prize.