Illinois Mom Wins $1.4M Lottery Jackpot Using Kids' Birthdays as Numbers: ‘Absolutely Wackadoodle!’

The "Lucky Mom" said she plays her children's birthdays "here and there"

An Illinois mom has her children to thank for a major, recent win!

The unnamed picked up her $1.4 million check after playing the Lucky Day Lotto, Chicago’s ABC 7 reported on Wednesday.

Her lucky strategy? Playing one of her kids’ birthdays.

The Illinois resident explained that the big win came when she was already having a bit of a rough night.

"My baby woke up crying, and after tucking them back into bed, I had trouble falling back asleep.”

“So to pass the time, I opened the lottery app on my phone, and I couldn't believe it when it showed that I had just won $1.4 million! Absolutely wackadoodle," she said.

She then explained how she told her husband about the good news.

"After I won, I asked my husband, 'Do you want to know which kid's birthday helped us win the jackpot?'" she said.

Related: Michigan Man Wins $200K in Powerball Lottery Using Kids’ Birthdays as Numbers

Her winning numbers for the Lucky Day Lotto evening drawing on March 6 were 6-8-16-17-20.

Eighty-three people each won a $200 prize that day, while many more scored on $15 and $1 wins from the same lottery game. There was also a midday drawing that day with a top prize of $1,350,000 that no one won.

When the woman went to collect her prize, she chose to keep her identity anonymous.

In a photo of the winner claiming her check on March 7, she held the large cutout over the top half of her body, making sure that her face was fully covered.

“Lucky Mom” was written in all caps in the section marked for the winner’s name.

Chicago’s Fox 32 said the woman plays Lucky Day Lotto "here and there," always using dates from her kids' birthdays as her lucky numbers.

Related: Mass. Lottery Player Wins $1 Million Prize Weeks After Winning $500 from Ticket Bought at the Same Store

The outlet added that nearly 550,000 winning Lucky Day Lotto tickets have been bought by customers already for March, totaling over $3 million in prizes.

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The Illinois Lottery regularly features winners on its site, along with brief interviews where they discuss their plans to spend the money, and how they found out that they were the recipient.

While “Lucky Mom” has yet to make her debut on the website, there are a couple of big winners from recent months.

In January, Andrew from Chicago won $50,000. He said he would “pay all of it on our mortgage.” In December 2023, Sharon from Bloomingdale said she planned to do the same with the $75,000 that she scored.

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