December is here and the holidays are near. However, no one’s merrier than the Illinois Lottery player who just won $1 million on a Merry Multiplier scratch-off ticket.
The top-prize winning Instant Ticket was purchased at Happy’s Super Service convenience store, located at 101 East Dakota Street in Spring Valley. And no one’s happier to have sold this ticket than Lisa West, who owns Happy’s Super Service with her husband, Fred.
“A regular customer came in, bought a holiday ticket, and scratched it off right here in front of us,” shared West. “Next thing we know, the customer is jumping up and down and screaming, so we knew it had to be a big winning ticket – it was a pretty exciting moment.”
For selling the winning ticket, Happy’s Super Service in Spring Valley will receive a selling bonus of one percent of the prize amount, or $10,000.
When asked what they plan to do with the selling bonus, West explained, “I’m not sure it’s sunk in yet that we get such a generous prize, too. My husband and I have owned this store for over 16 years. You never think the big wins will happen to someone you know – and at such a joyful time of year. We can’t wait to celebrate!”
Spring Valley is home to just over 5,500 residents and is 65 miles north of Bloomington. “There’s not a lot of action going on here, so someone winning a million bucks playing the Lottery is pretty big news around – and we’re so excited that it happened at our store,” exclaimed West.
So far in 2023, over 61 million winning Instant Tickets have been sold, netting Illinois Lottery players over $1.35 billion in prizes.
The Illinois Lottery currently offers more than 50 different Instant Ticket games at over 7,000 retail locations across Illinois.
The Illinois Lottery reminds all players that lottery games are not for kids — never give a lottery ticket to a minor. For more information on how to play lottery games responsibly, please visit the Responsible Gaming page on the Illinois Lottery website.