Someone in Illinois Just Got Rich—$475K Ticket in the Wild

For someone in Illinois, July 1st was a life-changing day as they just became nearly half a million dollars richer. The only problem is this mystery individual doesn't seem to know it yet.

Does this convenience store in Chicago look familiar to you? There's an important reason why I ask.

This is the Express Food Mart located at 1800 E 87th Street in Chicago. According to the Illinois Lottery's unclaimed prizes site, someone bought a Lucky Day Lotto ticket on Tuesday, July 1 which was a $475,000 winner.

What would be the amount you'd take home after taxes are taken out in Illinois?

According to an accounting website that tabulated the Illinois taxes, there would be around $114,000 withheld in taxes, but that's still a mammoth amount of money. Would you accept $365,000 take home? This is me raising my hand, too.

Whoever has this ticket has one calendar year to come forward and claim their prize before the Illinois Lottery pockets it. I'm guessing the mystery winner isn't really a mystery to the person with the ticket and they're likely getting all their ducks in a row before making their identity known. Congratulations to whoever this lucky schmuck person is.