Lifelong McHenry Co. Resident Wins $650,000 Lottery Prize

Submission by the Illinois Lottery

A lifelong Harvard resident is $650,000 richer following a recent lottery win.

“I feel very lucky,” Joe Staver said when he presented his winning Lucky Day Lotto ticket at the Illinois Lottery Prize Center in Rockford in recent weeks.

Staver won the $650,000 jackpot prize when his Lucky Day Lotto ticket matched all five numbers in the Saturday, March 12, mid-day drawing. The day after the drawing, Staver was at a store and used the Lottery self-service ticket scanner to check his ticket. When the message “file a claim” appeared on the screen, he knew he had won a big prize and asked the clerk to confirm it.

“When the clerk told me I won $650,000, I signed the back of my ticket right away," he said.

Staver and his wife, Marie, have been married 36 years. They have two children and seven grandchildren. Their plans for the windfall include buying a house and two vehicles.

“We also plan to make investments for our grandchildren," he said.

The winning ticket was purchased at Chemung Country Store, 24102 Illinois Route 173 in Harvard. The retailer received a bonus of $6,500, one percent of the prize amount, for selling a winning ticket.