Illinois Lottery ticket bought at Rockford Walmart turns to $500K
By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — A $10 Holiday Bucks scratch-off ticket sold at the Walmart on Northridge Drive has turned into $500,000.
The Illinois Lottery announced on Tuesday that an anonymous player won the top prize with a ticket purchased at Walmart, 3849 Northridge Drive, which is near Forest Hills Road and East Riverside Boulevard. The winner, nicknamed Jessie, collected the prize with her husband.
“It’s so amazing that this happened right at the start of the holiday season,” Jessie said in a news release from the Lottery. “I want to treat my family, but I also plan to help those who are less fortunate — especially kids in my community — have a magical holiday season.”
Walmart in Rockford will receive a 1% bonus of the prize amount for selling the winning ticket.
Jessie told the Lottery that she was running errands when she bought the ticket on her way out of Walmart.
“I was in a hurry, so I just scratched the barcode on the ticket and scanned it at the machine. You wouldn’t believe how big my eyes got when $500,000 popped up on the screen,” she said. “I thought the machine was just showing how much you could win with this ticket — not what I’d actually won. I couldn’t believe it. I even asked the clerk to double check, but told her, ‘Don’t tell anyone.’”
More than 48.6 million winning Illinois Lottery instant tickets have been sold so far in 2025, netting players more than $1.29 billion in prizes.
The Lottery had record net proceeds of $883.6 million last year. About 99% of the money goes toward the Common School Fund for education initiatives, according to the state.
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas
