Two Lucky People Could Be $50,000 Richer

Updated Wednesday 9:20 a.m.

Have any spare change laying around?

Well, two lucky people who bought Little Lotto tickets from Evergreen Park area stores have at least $50,000 in "spare change," representatives from the Illinois Lottery said Tuesday.

On Monday, Circle K, 2635 W. 87th St., sold a $50,000 ticket, matching all five numbers: 10, 11, 21, 31 and 39. The Illinois Lottery said that the store will receive a $500 bonus, for selling a winning ticket, equivalent to 1 percent of the jackpot amount.

Assistant Manager Dominique Reed said in her one and a half years working for the gas station mart, she's never seen such a big winning ticket.

"No, not that much," said Reed. "Smaller wins, though."

Just two blocks up the street, manager Chan Park of Lucky Mart, 2900 W. 87th St, says the mini-mart has more than last week's winning ticket to validate it as a lucky store.

"This place is known to the public very well," said Park.

He said he's seen customers come from as far as Indiana to buy lottery tickets at Lucky Mart. In the past three and a half years, Park said eight people have bought winning Little Lotto tickets, including a $325,ooo ticket sold in January.

"Everybody thinks that this place is a very lucky place," Park said.

Last Wednesday, someone bought a winning ticket in the amount of $58,333. The Illinois Lottery said the winning ticket matched all five numbers: 9, 10, 24, 28 and 30, and the store will receive a $583 bonus.

Both Little Lotto tickets so far remain unclaimed.

"Players sometimes come in the next day after a ticket is sold and in some cases they've come in on the same day," said Tracy Owens, a representative with the Illinois State Lottery, "but they have one year from the drawing date to claim their prize."