Illinois Man Wins $650k In Lottery Using Numbers Related To Late Wife

A warm fuzzy story that resulted in a good payday.

According to a release from the Illinois Lottery, a man identified only as 'Big Money D' won $650,000 off of a game.

Big Money D, from Chicago, said he normally plays Pick 4 but noticed the jackpot for Lucky Day Lotto was pretty good so he tried that one. The November 16th drawing made him a winner but it's the numbers that got him there that are special.

Big Money D picked numbers to win the game that were related to his late wife (he didn't specify how but the winning numbers were 9-11-12-13-17). He told Illinois Lottery:

When I won, it felt like it was a message from her...I’m already looking at houses, and can’t wait to purchase my dream home for myself and my kids – it truly is a dream come true.

It definitely seems like a good message from her! The winning ticket was bought at Mariano’s in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood, which is at 5201 North Sheridan Road. Saturday's Lucky Day Lotto drawing was a happy day for several folks.

There were over 27,600 winning Lucky Day Lotto tickets that were purchased for the November 16th evening drawing, resulting in over $724,000 in prizes, according to Illinois Lottery. Lucky Day Lotto is an Illinois-exclusive game that has 2 daily drawings at 12:40 p.m. and 9:22 p.m.

Meanwhile, as for Big Money D, he tells Illinois Lottery that he has barely been able to sleep lately for being so excited about his lottery win.