What would you do with $1M winning lottery ticket? Southern Illinois man gets to find out

A southern Illinois man plans to buy a new home, possibly retire earlier than expected, and “give a little love” to his family.

It’s all within reach because he just won $1 million with an Illinois Lottery scratch-off ticket he bought for $50.

The winning ticket in the contest, which has a top prize of $10 million, was purchased at the Circle K at 1710 S. 10th St. in Mount Vernon, according to a news release Tuesday from Illinois Lottery.

“My girlfriend scratched the ticket and kept on staring at it and saying, ‘This can’t be right, this can’t be right’ — so I took a look and then ended up saying the same thing,” said the winner in a statement in the news release. “Once it sank in that we had won $1 million, we were both dumbfounded and happy at the same time – a moment we will never forget.”

The winner has chosen to remain anonymous as is permitted in Illinois.

The Circle K gets 1% of the winnings, which is $10,000, for selling the ticket.

In May, someone won the top prize in the $10 million scratch-off contest with a ticket purchased at Casey’s at 3499 Fosterburg Road in Alton.