The Illinois Lottery continued its birthday celebration this week with its second winner in the largest second-chance promotion in Lottery history.
As part of the celebration, Illinois Lottery Superintendent Carolyn Adams surprised Petra DeFrance of Homewood, IL with a check for $100,000 on Monday at DeFrance's home.
"I didn't ever think you could win one of these things," said a noticeably shaken DeFrance. "This could not have come at a better time for my family."
DeFrance said the first thing she will do with the winnings is pay off a number of bills, starting with her credit cards. However, that's just the beginning of the many ways DeFrance will use her winnings.
"This is wonderful! Our car recently broke down, we were having sewer problems and our basement flooded just this weekend. Now we can afford to have everything fixed and move forward with our lives."
A special segment of the surprise aired Thursday, May 20, 2004 on WGN-TV at 9:20 p.m. before the Lottery drawing.
"There's no better way to say thank you to our players for 30 years of fun than to give someone a second chance at life," said Adams. "It is great to see the Lottery have such a positive impact on its players."
The second-chance promotion will feature 20 second-chance drawings (one per week) through September for $100,000 and one grand prize drawing of $1 million to be announced September 30, 2004. To enter the second-chance drawing, players must mail $30 in non-winning 30th anniversary instant game tickets and/or non-winning on-line tickets printed with the words "Thanks for 30 Years of Fun" to: IL Lottery 30th Anniversary 2nd-Chance Promo, P.O. Box 19224; Springfield, IL 62794-9224. The contestant's name, address and phone number must be on the back of each non-winning entry ticket.
Why no details on the "$1 million" prize?