Glenview Woman Wins $1 Million in New Year's Millionaire Raffle

Submitted to Patch

When Glenview resident Jenny Zajac and her family were out having dinner on New Year’s Eve, each of them took a turn announcing their New Year’s resolutions.

“I resolved to win $1 million in the Illinois Lottery New Year’s Millionaire Raffle,” Zajac said. The next day her resolution came true, when Zajac checked the winning raffle numbers on the Lottery’s website and discovered her ticket – bearing number 290574 – was indeed a $1million winner.

“I started screaming and then I couldn’t stop shaking!” Zajac immediately showed the ticket to her dad, and then to her fiancé. “None of us could believe it was true!” The 23-year-old graphic designer said she plans to use the windfall to buy a house and invest. “I will also pay off my student loans, and that is going to feel great.”

Two days before the New Year’s Day drawing, Zajac bought her winning ticket at Marathon, 7145 West Dempster Street in Niles. The retailer received a bonus of $10,000, 1 percent of the prize amount, for selling a winning ticket.

The New Year’s Millionaire Raffle was played like a typical raffle game with a finite number of tickets and prizes. Each $20 raffle ticket, available only at lottery retailers, contained one unique six-digit number generated by the Lottery terminal. Raffle tickets are sold in sequential order throughout the state. To win one of the 517 prizes, a player’s raffle ticket numbers must exactly match one of the 517 winning numbers drawn.

The New Year’s Millionaire Raffle offered three $1 million prizes, four $100,000 prizes, ten $10,000 prizes and 500 $1,000 prizes. The other two $1 million winning Raffle tickets were sold in Glen Ellyn and Troy. The New Year’s Millionaire Raffledrawing was held January 1, 2015. Winning raffle numbers are available on the Illinois Lottery’s website at www.illinoislottery.com.