Glenview Resident to be Family 'Santa Claus' After Winning $4 million Illinois Lottery Prize

Rosalyn Aranda never imagined she would celebrate the holidays as the Illinois Lottery’s newest millionaire. “This is going to be a very special Christmas!” the lucky Glenview resident said after scratching a $100 Million Money Mania ticket and instantly winning $4 million.

Aranda, 67, was at home when she asked a friend to run some errands for her, including buying her an instant lottery ticket. “I asked him to bring me back a big winner and he certainly did!” She used a coin to scratch her ticket and, after she discovered the prize amount, immediately signed the back of it. “Then I put the ticket in my purse and kept my purse at my side all night!” The next morning she went straight to the Illinois Lottery Prize Center in Des Plaines to present her $4million winner.

A Glenview resident for more than 34 years, Aranda was a pharmacist at Glenbrook Hospital until she retired in 2004. She has five sisters who all live out of state and do not yet know about her win. “I’m going to surprise them and send them money and gifts. I feel like Santa Claus!” She also plans to use the windfall to pay bills and invest. “And I might even treat myself to something.”

On Thursday, Illinois Lottery Director Michael Jones presented Aranda a ceremonial $4,000,000 check. The winning ticket was purchased at Citgo Food Shop, 1533 North Waukegan Road in Glenview. The retailer was presented an oversized check for their $40,000 bonus, 1 percent of the prize amount, for selling a winning ticket.

$100 Million Money Mania is a $20 instant game featuring over $100,000,000 in total prize money, and top prizes of $4,000,000. One $4,000,000 prize and 11 of the $100,000 prizes have not yet been claimed. For more information, please visit www.illinoislottery.com.

About Illinois Lottery

Founded in 1974, the Illinois Lottery has contributed over $18 billion to the state’s Common School Fund to assist K-12 public schools, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars to the Capital Projects Fund and to special causes like Illinois Veterans, the fight against breast cancer, MS research, and assistance for people living with HIV/AIDS. In addition to playing in-store, the Illinois Lottery offers online and mobile play for Mega Millions, Powerball and Lotto at illinoislottery.com. Players must be at least 18 years old.