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One month left to claim $4M Illinois Lottery prizeNews Story
Illinois lottery officials are searching for a mystery millionaire who has just one month left to come forward. The winner of a $4 million prize sold at a Chicago gas station for the Feb. 23, 2018 Mega Millions drawing has just 30 days to claim their prize. If you think you bought a ticket for this drawing, you may want to check your pockets, behind the sofa or wherever you may have placed a winning lottery ticket, the Illinois Lottery said in a statement. The winning Mega Millions Me
Jan 25, 2019, 12:46 pm - Lottery News

Illinois Lottery fixes problem that prevented some ticket salesNews Story
Pick 3 and Pick 4 games were affected Several lottery players in Illinois were unable to purchase Pick 3 and Pick 4 tickets from retailers Tuesday, just before the midday drawing. Around 5:50 p.m. Tuesday, Lottery officials said that the technical issue they experienced with Pick 3 and Pick 4 has been resolved. Players can resume purchasing tickets for these games at Illinois Lottery retailers, according to a tweet. We apologize for the inconvenience. Tonight's 9:22 p.m. draw will take
Jan 16, 2019, 11:11 am - Lottery News

Lottery ticket leads FBI to Illinois bank robbery suspectNews Story
Sometimes when you win, you really lose. Such is the case for Arlington Heights resident Dexter L. Riley, whose good fortune in the Illinois lottery helped the FBI link him to a bank robbery last month in Palatine. The FBI on Thursday announced Riley, 38, is charged with holding up the Chase Bank at 1131 E. Dundee Road on Sept. 28, getting away with more than $8,250 in the heist. It's what authorities say Riley left behind a scratch-off lottery ticket that led to his undoing. A crimi
Oct 9, 2018, 12:04 pm - Lottery News

New Illinois Lottery game to help families of fallen officersNews Story
A new Illinois lottery game will generate money to help the families of police officers killed or severely hurt in the line of duty. Lawmakers overwhelming approved legislation to create the new scratch-off lottery game earlier this year. Gov. Bruce Rauner signed it into law on Monday. Money from the game will go to three designated police memorial funds. It will be used to build memorials and parks, hold annual memorial commemorations, provide scholarships to the children of fallen or inj
Aug 1, 2018, 2:10 pm - Lottery News

Connecticut Lottery hires director of Illinois Lottery as new CEONews Story
The Connecticut Lottery Corp.'s governing board voted Thursday to hire Gregory Smith, acting director of the Illinois Lottery, as its new CEO in hopes of stability after nearly two years of turmoil, recriminations and investigations at the quasi-public agency with a $1.2 billion annual budget. The lottery's top job had been vacant since Sept. 22, 2016, when last CEO, Anne Noble, stepped down amid controversy and entered an unusual and lucrative severance agreement with the agency's board of d
Jul 6, 2018, 10:10 am - Lottery News

New law would stop Illinois Lottery from selling tickets after top prizes are goneNews Story
The Illinois Lottery would have to provide players with daily updates on how many top prizes remain in scratch-off games and wouldn't be able to keep selling tickets for those games indefinitely under a proposed change in state law. The bill was introduced by Sen. Steve Stadelman in response to an investigation that found that the lottery was continuing to sell instant games, in some cases for weeks or months, after all top prizes had been claimed, with little warning to players. The arti
Jun 7, 2018, 7:53 am - Lottery News

Illinois Lottery sells tickets for instant games after top prizes are goneNews Story
At $30 a ticket, the Illinois Lottery's World Class Millions instant game was not only one of its priciest offerings it was also potentially one of the most lucrative for players. WIN UP TO $15,000,000! THE HIGHEST INSTANT PAYOUT IN ILLINOIS LOTTERY HISTORY, shouted a banner across the magenta and silver ticket. But for the last five weeks the game was on sale this year, none of the three $15 million prizes remained. Yet players purchased an estimated 26,000 tickets during that time, spen
Apr 23, 2018, 7:34 am - Lottery News

Woman who won $1,500 in first state lottery wins $1 million 44 years laterNews Story
Includes video report Carol Vymetal says she just may be the luckiest woman in Woodridge. Back in 1974, she won $1,500 in the Illinois Lottery's inaugural draw, and since then she's been a regular player, matching five numbers three or four times along the way. But all that green pales in comparison to what Vymetal came away with as one of three people who won $1 million each in the St. Patrick's Day Millionaire Raffle. It doesn't make any difference if you win back the price of the
Apr 5, 2018, 7:39 am - Lottery News

CVS employee accused of stealing $1 million lottery ticketNews Story
An Illinois man claims in a lawsuit filed last week that a CVS employee stole his winning $1 million Illinois Lottery scratch-off card. Carlos Figueroa claims in the suit filed in Cook County Circuit Court that he bought the winning ticket on Oct. 30 from a CVS Pharmacy in Waukegan. The address of the store was not immediately available. The suit states that Figueroa said he purchased the Merry Millionaire instant scratch-off through a vending machine that had cut it in half due to a malfu
Nov 21, 2017, 8:24 pm - Lottery News

Did new Illinois Lottery private manager get too good of a deal?News Story
Hoping for better luck the second time around, state officials unveiled a deal Friday to put the fate of the Illinois Lottery in the hands of a British firm that pledges bigger returns than those generated under the manager the state fired. In a do-over of the nation's first, controversial attempt at state lottery privatization six years ago, Illinois agreed to a contract with the only firm to bid for the potentially lucrative job: the Camelot Group. It comes as the state and Camelot pledge t
Oct 21, 2017, 9:55 am - Lottery News