‘Frustrated’ man buys different lottery ticket when machine glitches — and wins big
It was a usual trip to the store for an Illinois man. He picked up his groceries and decided to buy a lottery ticket on his way out.
He tried to select a game, but the lottery machine at the Addison Jewel Osco got stuck on the “Lotto” game, according to an Oct. 18 news release from the Illinois Lottery.
“I was a bit frustrated,” he told Illinois Lottery officials. “I said, ‘What is going on? The machine won’t give me the right game!’ So I decided I may as well buy the Lotto ticket.”
His “may as well” attitude paid off. He couldn’t believe his eyes when he scanned the ticket to reveal a $9.2 million prize, lottery officials said.
The ticket matched all of the numbers in the Aug. 24 drawing, meaning the player hit the jackpot. The winner chose to remain anonymous.
“I looked at my wife and she was completely speechless,” he said, per the release. “We are laughing over how angry I was at the broken machine – and we’re so grateful for how it all turned out.”
Addison is about a 22-mile drive northwest from downtown Chicago.
This story was originally published October 21, 2024 at 4:43 PM with the headline "‘Frustrated’ man buys different lottery ticket when machine glitches — and wins big."
