An unnamed lottery player has a few Illinoisans questioning who could have won the latest Cash Celebration Instant Ticket jackpot in Romeoville on Tuesday. According to a press release, the winning $1 million ticket was sold at Thornton’s gas station located off of North Independence Blvd. When Thornton's store manager Deborah Sparkiewicz found out that someone purchased the winning ticket from her store, she was baffled. She knew that if it were a regular, they would have told her of the win. And thus, suspicions arose.
"Holy smokes! This just blows my mind. We haven’t heard from any customers that they’ve won and our regulars usually come back to share the exciting news of their wins with us, so this has everyone scratching their heads over who the winner could be."
Despite a lack of clues that led to the identity of the million-dollar winner, Sparkiewicz has put the puzzle pieces together.
"There’s an oil refinery nearby that employs hundreds of workers from across the country who stay here for months at a time. These workers stop into our store often, picking up essentials. They just completed the work and went back to their home states – and I’m wondering if one of them took this big winning ticket home?"
Just for being the store to sell the ticket, Thornton's will receive a $10,000 bonus! Sparkiewicz told lottery officials that she plans to renovate the gas station with the bonus money. Information regarding the name of the winner or where they are from has yet to be revealed.