LANSING, Ill. (January 7, 2024) – Someone local may be much richer to start the new year, but whether they know it or not is another matter.
Who is the mystery winner?
That is because no one has yet claimed the $325,000 prize associated with a winning Lucky Day Lotto ticket sold at a BP gas station located at 17002 Torrence Ave.
The winning numbers were drawn on Nov. 18, and the winner has a year from that date to claim the prize.
Could the winner be a Lansing resident? Or perhaps someone traveling through who stopped off the expressway to fill up their car? The answer remains a mystery.
But that hasn’t stopped people from asking BP store manager Kevin Patel if he knows who it could be.
“We have no idea who is the winner,” Patel said.
Patel said he is surprised no one has yet come forward to claim the prize that he said is the biggest ticket sold at the store.
“That much money is like, you know, is rare,” Patel said.
Patel said there had been one $100,000 winner at the location but that was before he became manager four years ago.
How to play the Illinois Lucky Day Lotto
Lucky Day Lotto costs $1 to play and is a game exclusive to Illinois with two daily drawings.
To win the Lucky Day Lotto jackpot, 5 numbers out of a total of 45 must be matched.
The Lansing winner hit on the midday drawing by either choosing on their own or using the Quick Pick option to select the numbers: 7-8-9-16-37.
Benefits of selling a winning lotto ticket
Even if the winner does not come forward, that doesn’t mean the Lansing BP will not receive some benefit.
According to the Illinois Lottery website, the retailer will receive a selling bonus of one percent of the amount of the prize.
In addition to Illinois-only games and national games like Powerball and Mega Millions, the Lansing BP where the winning ticket was sold also sells 30 different kinds of scratch-off games ranging in cost from $1 to $50.
Patel estimated over 100 to 150 customers play some type of game daily at the store.
He said it is hard to track how many winners the store sells since prizes under $600 can be redeemed at any lottery retailer.
Unclaimed winnings are common
As surprising as it might be that no one has claimed the prize won in Lansing, that isn’t even the largest one still out there.
The Illinois Lottery website lists unclaimed prizes of $1.2 million for a Lucky Day Lotto ticket sold at a Jewel Food Store in Chicago, a $1 million Lotto winner at a Marathon store in Arlington Heights, and four other winners between $425,000 and $600,000 at various locations throughout the state.
The website recommends that winners write their names on the back of the winning tickets and keep them in a safe place until they are ready to claim their prizes.
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