"It was like a message from her."

By Kate Northrop

CHICAGO, Ill. — An Illinois man won a $650,000 Lucky Day Lotto jackpot using personal lottery numbers related to his late wife.

An Illinois resident tried out a lottery game he normally doesn't play, and selecting numbers related to his late wife, won a $650,000 Lucky Day Lotto jackpot.

The winner, who adopted the name "Big Money D" while claiming his prize, noticed the growing Lucky Day Lotto jackpot and decided to deviate from his normal lottery game.

"I typically play Pick 4, but that day, I noticed that the Lucky Day Lotto jackpot was pretty high, so I decided to switch it up and try something new," "Big Money D" told the Illinois Lottery. "I picked numbers related to my late wife — when I won, it felt like it was a message from her."

He had purchased his winning ticket at Mariano's in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood on North Sheridan Road. The ticket matched all five winning numbers in the Saturday, Nov. 16 draw, which were 9, 11, 12, 13, and 17.

It took an entire day for the win to sink in once he found out how those numbers won him the $650,000 prize.

"I'm still so shocked and excited about the win, I have barely been able to sleep!" the winner remarked.

The prize money will go far to support himself and his children, and even before claiming his big check from the Lottery, he had already gotten deep in the planning process.

"I'm already looking at houses and can't wait to purchase my dream home for myself and my kids — it truly is a dream come true," he shared.

For selling the winning ticket, the retailer receives a $6,500 bonus from the Lottery, equivalent to one percent of the prize amount.

Lucky Day Lotto is a draw game local to Illinois, in which players pick five numbers from 1 to 45 for a chance at the progressive jackpot. The jackpot increases by $50,000 every time a drawing occurs without a winner.

The Lucky Day Lotto jackpot currently stands at $200,000 for the next drawing today, Dec. 1 at 12:40 p.m. Central Time. The odds of matching all five numbers to win the jackpot are 1 in 1,221,759. Tickets cost $1 each.

All winning numbers, prizes and odds can be found on Lottery Post's Illinois Lottery Results page right after each drawing.

(Click to display full-size in gallery)"Big Money D" scored a $650,000 Lucky Day Lotto jackpot in the November 16 evening draw.