Mom wakes up due to crying baby — and sees she won huge lottery prize. ‘Wackadoodle’

Already considering herself “very lucky,” an Illinois woman’s luck has reached a new level.

The woman — identified only as “Lucky Mom” — has the Lucky Day Lotto to thank, having won the March 6 jackpot prize of $1.4 million, Illinois Lottery officials said.

“My baby woke up crying, and after tucking them back into bed, I had trouble falling back asleep,” the winner told lottery officials in a March 13 news release. “So to pass the time, I opened the lottery app on my phone, and I couldn’t believe it when it showed that I had just won $1.4 million! – absolutely wackadoodle.”

She matched the winning numbers of 6-8-16-17-20 to win the top prize.

Those numbers, she told lottery officials, have a special significance.

“I’ve played Lucky Day Lotto here and there, and when I do, I use my kids’ birthdays as my lucky numbers,” she said. “I have the best job in the world: I’m a stay at home mom, and I already feel very lucky and blessed for where I’m at in life — but today, the word ‘lucky’ took on a whole new meaning.”

Lucky Day Lotto costs $1 to play and there are two draws each day. Odds of winning the jackpot are 1-in-1,221,759.

This story was originally published March 13, 2024 at 10:21 AM with the headline "Mom wakes up due to crying baby — and sees she won huge lottery prize. ‘Wackadoodle’."