Huge payday for Illinois lottery players across the state
By Kate Northrop
Thousands of Illinois lottery players won big when their Pick 4 game drew the combination 7-7-7-7, with more than $7 million in winnings paid out across the state.
The Illinois Lottery announced last week that it tallied up $7.1 million in winnings from a single Pick 4 drawing.
It's because the midday drawing on Sunday, May 3 produced the number combination 7-7-7-7, with Fireball number 6.
It resulted in a "statewide wave of wins," the Lottery said in their announcement, with more than 3,300 winning tickets that included over 2,800 players who each collected a cool $2,500.
One online iLottery player collected the $50,000 top prize.
There were also 22 players who each won a $25,000 prize, eight who won $20,000, eight who won $15,000, and 29 winners of $10,000.
Number combinations with the same four digits are often called "quads" and are a popular choice among lottery players, which is why the prize payout is so large.
The last time a quad was drawn in Illinois was last year in August 2025 when the game drew 4-4-4-4, while the last time 7-7-7-7 was drawn in Illinois was in October 2021. Since October 2020, the Illinois Lottery's Pick 4 game drew quads eight times, including the result from last week.
Lottery retailers are also celebrating the statewide rush since selling a winning ticket means they earn a 1% bonus per ticket based on the prize amount.
Lottery winners in Illinois have one year from the draw date to claim prizes. Lucky winners are encouraged to sign the back of their ticket and store it in a safe place until they are ready to claim the prize, the Lottery advised.
Daily 4 drawings take place twice a day, first at 12:40 p.m. and again at 9:20 p.m. Central Time.
All Illinois lottery results are published right after each drawing at Lottery Post's Illinois Lottery Results page.
I wish there's more of these multiple winners. We need to win some of that money back. Congratulations to all the winners.
Why is this news? This happens in every state when quad 7 is involved. It's usually sold out when it happens
My first post ever. I mostly scratch and fantasy 5 but recently started playing pick 4. It seems like people who win with quads are playing them every single day. 1234 I imagine is played every day as well, box and straight. And I notice 20th century dates are played regularly too. Anything 19XX tends to have more winners. And I guess since America is turning 250, that 1776 is being played everyday. I don't have a real strategy yet. I've been doing QPs and whenever I see random four numbers during my day I play them.
And when u stop playing u
missed 777
Fantasy start by making a chart for the win-4 results. Something that accom dates the entire year. What I notice is while focusing on my target combination I look for instances where it was almost drawn. Sort of like a precurser. Very often before your number hits, it was giving you clues.
It depends on the state. Michigan had a big payout with the number 1028. If I'm not mistaken, the total prize won was over $9 million. I still think one of the biggest jackpots was on 1010. In February of 2010 the payout was $21.6 million.