Illinois man wins $1M lottery using numbers 'near and dear' to late wife

WADSWORTH, Ill. - An Illinois man won $1 million playing the lottery using numbers related to his late wife.

The man, along with his adult kids, split the purchase of a Lotto Million 1 ticket in Wadsworth and won the $1 million prize in the May 20 drawing.

"Our family likes to play the same numbers in various Lottery games from time to time, and the numbers are very near and dear to our hearts," explained the winner's daughter. "Since our mom passed away, we include numbers related to her that hold significant meaning for all of us."

The winning family chose to remain anonymous.

"I actually saw a news story that a ticket was won nearby. So when my dad called me that night and said ‘I have big news - guess what?’ I rained on his parade when I said ‘We won a million dollars?’ He hadn’t seen the article yet," the daughter said. "Everyone is really excited, but nobody is more excited than my dad!"

The BP in Wadsworth that sold the winning ticket will receive $10,000.

Nearly 3 million winning lotto tickets have been sold so far this year in Illinois, totaling prizes of over $35.4 million, according to the Illinois Lottery.