Small Illinois Community Basks In $3M Lottery Winner Mystery

WOODHULL, IL — A rural Illinois town of 750 residents just outside of Moline is buzzing these days after a lucky lottery player managed to win a jackpot of $3 million in a scratch-off game. Now, the mystery remains: Who’s the lucky winner?

According to the Illinois Lottery, the newly minted millionaire spent $30 and turned it into a $3 million payday at the BP station at 111 Northwest 5th Street in Woodhull, which is 30 miles southeast of Moline and 65 miles northwest of Peoria.

The winner won big on the Illinois Lottery’s 200X Payout game, which has brought notoriety to the small Illinois town.

“Lately, all anyone can talk about is the $3 million winning lottery ticket — everyone in our tiny town is trying to figure out who the lucky winner is,” said Jennifer Damer, the gas station manager.

“We have an idea of who it could be, and we especially hope it’s someone local. But ultimately, I would really like to congratulate whoever won, and share in the excitement of this moment with them,”

For selling the winning ticket, the BP station will receive a cash bonus of 1 percent of the prize amount, or $30,000.

Damer calls the station the one-stop shop for locals as well as truckers passing through the region. The station also attracts local farmers and residents, many of whom spend part of their morning enjoying one of the business’ breakfast biscuits and chatting with other local residents.

But lately, the biggest news has been the big lottery win.

Winners have one year from the date of the winning draw in which to claim their prize. The Illinois Lottery encourages all lucky winners to write their name on the back of their ticket and keep it in a safe place until they’re ready to claim their prize.

So far this year, over 52 million winning scratch-off lottery tickets have been sold, netting Illinois Lottery players over $1 billion in total prizes.

As for the station’s earnings, Damer said the bonus paid to the business for selling the ticket will be put to good use.

“Some of the bonus will be used for improvements to our store, but more importantly, I plan to share the bonus with my seven loyal and dedicated employees,” Damer said. “This way, we all get to celebrate the exciting win!”

The $3 million winner is the second such payout this week, after another $3 million winner was recently sold at a business in Mount Prospect.