$1M Lottery Winner Is 'Big News' For Small Illinois Community

SPRING VALLEY, IL — An Illinois resident from a small community north of Bloomington not accustomed to having a lot happening around town is now a newly minted millionaire – just in time for the holidays.

A regular customer at a Spring Valley convenience store hit the jackpot on a holiday-themed scratch-off ticket that was purchased recently at Happy’s Super Store, Illinois state lottery officials announced on Monday.

The winner scratched off a Merry Multiplier ticket in front of the store’s owners and couldn’t believe what happened next.

“Next thing we know, the customer is jumping up and down and screaming, so we knew it had to be a big winning ticket,” said Lisa West, who owns and operates the store with her husband, Fred. “It was a pretty exciting moment.”

She added: “There’s not a lot of action going on here, so someone winning a million bucks playing the Lottery is pretty big news around — and we’re so excited that it happened at our store.”

Spring Valley is a community of 5,500 residents and is located about 65 miles north of Bloomington. West said that having a million-dollar winner isn’t exactly common in the town. As a reward for selling the winning ticket, the owners of the store will receive a $10,000 bonus from the Illinois Lottery.

Asked what they plan to do with the selling bonus, West said, “I’m not sure it’s sunk in yet that we get such a generous prize, too. My husband and I have owned this store for over 16 years. You never think the big wins will happen to someone you know – and at such a joyful time of year. We can’t wait to celebrate!”

So far in 2023, more than 61 million winning Instant Tickets have been sold, netting Illinois Lottery players over $1.35 billion in prizes, lottery officials said.