CHICAGO — Two friends from Cook County are celebrating after claiming a $750,000 Lucky Day Lotto® jackpot.
The winners, who are remaining anonymous under the name ‘Pirate Gals,’ purchased the winning ticket at Squire Liquor & Tobacco, located at 1929 Plum Grove Rd. in Palatine.
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“I was still in the store when I realized we had won—I was so excited,” said the ‘Pirate Gal' who bought the ticket. She immediately called her friend who double-checked the numbers and confirmed the big win. “At first, I thought it was only $700, until my friend pointed out it was actually the jackpot.”
The winning ticket matched all five numbers— 17, 22, 25, 31, and 40— in the March 20 Lucky Day Lotto drawing, securing the game’s top prize.
Even now, the moment feels surreal. “We didn’t get much sleep that night,” the winners shared. “After all these years, we finally hit a jackpot—it still doesn’t feel real.”
The ‘Pirate Gals’ plan to use their winnings to take a family vacation, purchase a new condo, and travel to the Philippines. “We feel incredibly blessed by this windfall,” they said.
With a smile, the ticket purchaser added, “I even told the store we needed a winning ticket—who knew it would be this one?”
For selling the winning ticket, Squire Liquor & Tobacco will receive a bonus of 1 percent of the prize amount, totaling $7,500.
So far this year, nearly 4 million winning Lucky Day Lotto tickets have been sold, with players statewide claiming over $23 million in prizes.
Lucky Day Lotto is an Illinois-only draw game with two daily drawings at 12:40 p.m. and 9:22 p.m., and jackpots starting at $100,000. Tickets are available in-store, online, and via the Illinois Lottery app.
