Markham Woman Wins $50K With Illinois Lottery Ticket

MARKHAM, IL — A Markham woman is celebrating after she won $50,000 from an Illinois Lottery crossword scratch ticket, according to a news release from the Illinois Lottery.

When Bettina Taylor finished working for the day, she stopped at a Mobil gas station located at 1401 Torrence Ave., in Calumet City, to pick up a few instant lottery tickets before heading home, the release states.

"I had just finished work and was still in my uniform, when I got home I scratched the ticket and I couldn't believe it. I thought I was seeing stuff and that maybe I was sleepy!" said Taylor, an essential medical worker.

In the middle of the night, Taylor woke her fiancé and asked him to check the ticket, too. When she woke him, he thought she was joking.

"My fiancé told me to 'Stop playing!' because he thought that I was kidding. Then he put on his glasses and checked the ticket and said, 'Oh Lord! You did win!' But he kept thinking I won $5,000," Taylor said.

Taylor's sister-in-law also checked the ticket and confirmed to Taylor that the win was actually for a much larger prize than they had both previously thought, $50,000.

"My heart was beating so fast at first that I thought I was getting ready to have a heart attack," Taylor said. "Then I told myself to calm down, drink some water and look at the ticket again. I did this about three times and started having palpitations."

Taylor continued to check her ticket, both in-store and on the Illinois Lottery app. In total, she checked at least five times and said she still could not believe it.

After claiming her prize, Taylor decided to purchase a car, the release states.

"With my win I bought a car. It’s a truck, which is the best way to go," she said. Taylor added she is happy she made this decision given all the snowfall this winter.

The Illinois Lottery, founded in 1974, has contributed over $21 billion (since 1985) to the state’s Common School Fund to assist K-12 public schools, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars to the Capital Projects Fund and to special causes like Illinois Veterans services, the fight against breast cancer, MS research, Special Olympics, police memorials and assistance for people living with HIV/AIDS, according to the release.

Additionally, the Illinois Lottery offers online and mobile play for all draw-based Illinois Lottery games at illinoislottery.com, the release states. You must be at least 18 to play.