Illinois Man Wins $1M On $20 Ticket Purchased With Morning Coffee

ILLINOIS — A longtime Illinois construction worker who recently purchased a scratch-off lottery ticket along with his morning coffee — even after his wife asked him to stop playing the lottery —is the state’s newest millionaire after hitting it big on a $20 winner.

The winner, who is choosing to remain anonymous, bought the winning ticket at a gas station just eight miles south of Champaign, the Illinois Lottery announced on Tuesday. The resident, who says he has worked in the construction industry for more than 30 years, happened to pick up the ticket along with his coffee and immediately returned home after discovering his purchase had earned him $1 million.

“It’s the craziest thing to ever happen to me — I still can’t stop shaking,” the Illinois resident said in a news release. “My wife was just saying ‘You’ve got to stop buying those things.’ So you can imagine how ecstatic I was to be able to tell her I won.”

The resident purchased the $20 scratch-off ticket and won the top prize in the Illinois Lottery’s $2,000 Frenzy Multiplier game. The ticket was purchased at a Phillips 66 station in Philo, a town of 1,300 people just outside of Champaign.

The station’s owner said that the majority of people who frequent the station are local residents and so he figures even though the winner is keeping his identity anonymous, he would be recognizable to station attendants.

The winner said that despite his wife’s request for him to stop buying tickets, he is glad he didn’t heed her advice.

“I was on my way to work when I realized my scratch-off ticket was a $1 million winner, and I pulled a U-turn in the middle of the road to go back home and tell my wife,” the winner said, according to the lottery news release. “When I showed my wife the winning ticket, she did a triple-take. She then asked me if she was dreaming, and I told her, ‘I hope not.’”

While the winner has tried his luck on a variety of scratch-off tickets, he said he chose the $2,000 Frenzy Multiplier intentionally. He says a friend who had luck on the $2,000 Frenzy Multiplier game a couple of times, which enticed him to purchase the ticket.

When asked what he plans to do with the money, the lucky winner says he plans to begin a college fund for his children.

“This money is a joy and a relief – it makes the future feel so much easier, the winner said.