Dad of 5 Who Won Massive Lottery Prize Said ‘It Took a Few Minutes’ for the News to Sink in — Then He Called His Wife

An Illinois man says he “couldn’t believe his eyes” when he saw that he’d won a massive lottery prize.

Matthew, a father of five from Crystal Lake, purchased a Quick Pick ticket via the Illinois Lottery app and successfully matched all five numbers in the Lucky Day Lotto evening drawing on Sept. 10, according to a news release from the Illinois Lottery. He scored a jackpot of $550,000.

“I was just at home, staring at the draw results on the app,” Matthew said. “It took a few minutes to sink in that I’d actually won.”

His first call was to his wife, who reacted with similar incredulity.

“The moment I realized, I couldn’t wait to tell her,” Matthew told the Lottery. “There was a long pause, then she gasped so loud I thought she’d drop the phone! Her first words were, ‘Are you serious?’ ” 

The couple plans to use Matthew’s winnings to invest in their children’s future.

“First and foremost, this is for our kids — to give them every opportunity to thrive,” Matthew said, adding that they also plan to splash out on a family getaway.

“We’ve always dreamed of a warm family vacation by the ocean, and now that dream can finally come true,” he said.

Lucky Day Lotto is an Illinois-only draw game with two daily drawings at 12:40 p.m. and 9:22 p.m. local time, and jackpots starting at $100,000. Tickets can be purchased in-store, online and via the Illinois Lottery app.

In a similar story in Kentucky, a man won $1.5 million playing the $20 Wild Cash 200X scratch-off game last month.

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He told the Kentucky Lottery that he was in such disbelief that he checked the ticket “50 times to make sure my eyes weren’t bad.”