A customer's routine stop at a Loop newsstand has turned into a stroke of luck as they purchased a Lucky Day Lotto ticket worth $650,000. The ticket was sold at Headline Newsstand, which sits inside the lobby of 2 N. LaSalle Street, as confirmed by the Illinois Lottery. Khadija Jiwani, an employee at the newsstand, recognized the winner as one of their regulars. "I sold the winning ticket!," Jiwani told ABC7 Chicago. "It was bought by one of our regular customers, so she is probably an employee near the building."
The winning numbers for the midday drawing on Thursday were 13, 15, 19, 33, and 42, a combination that was personally chosen by the winner. "She wrote the numbers down on a piece of paper and handed it to me, asking me to purchase her Lucky Day Lotto ticket with those exact numbers," Jiwani said in an interview with NBC Chicago. Lucky Day Lotto is an Illinois-specific game with two drawings a day, and winners have up to one year to claim their prize, as noted by lottery officials.
Headline Newsstand doesn't just get to bask in the glory of selling the winning ticket. It also receives a financial incentive. For their part in this lucky transaction, they will be awarded a retailer bonus, which, in this case, amounts to $6,500, equivalent to one percent of the prize amount.
While the winner's identity has not been publicly shared, they have the option to remain anonymous, as is the right of any winner who lands a prize worth $250,000 or more, according to Illinois Lottery rules. Jiwani eagerly awaits the winner's next visit to the newsstand. "I'm looking forward to seeing her this week and congratulating her," she expressed to ABC7 Chicago.
