$1M Illinois lottery winner comes forward to claim prize in Rockford

The winner of the $1 million Illinois Lottery prize did not reveal their identity. (Photo provided by Illinois Lottery)

Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — The winner of last week’s $1 million Illinois Lottery prize has come forward to claim their winnings at the prize center in Rockford.

The lucky player, whose identity was not disclosed, bought their winnings ticket through the Illinois Lottery app.

“I’ve never been a big lottery player – in fact, I’ve never won anything big in my life – until now,” the winner said in a news release shared by the Illinois Lottery. “After Thursday’s drawing, I got an email saying I’d won, and I figured that I’d won back the $2 that I had spent on the ticket. And I did win back my two dollars, but imagine my surprise when I realized I’d also won $1 million, too.”

The winning ticket matched all six numbers in the April 3 Lotto Million 1 drawing. Those numbers were: 1-11-16-21-26-44.

“It wasn’t until I compared the winning numbers with those on my ticket that I realized I had actually won $1 million. I even sent a copy of my ticket to my dad, who is super analytical, to double-check it for me. He’s not a lottery player, but I have a feeling he might start playing now,” the winning player stated in a news release. “The next person I told was my best friend, who was over the moon for me. She texted me smiley-face emojis all day, which perfectly captured how I was feeling. My cheeks have been sore from smiling so much.”

This is the third Illinois Lottery player to win $1 million or more this year. There was a previous Lotto Million 1 winner on Feb. 17, and on Feb. 8 a ticket purchased at a Mobil gas station in Des Plaines led to a $10.4 million jackpot.

“I’d love to treat my family to a nice vacation,” the winner stated in the news release. “My niece is especially fascinated by the history of Egypt, so I’m hoping to surprise everyone with a special trip there.”