Lucky Lake Villa Man One In A Million
LAKE VILLA, Ill. (STMW) - Sometimes Kenny Perry had an itch that had to be scratched — as in a lottery scratch-off ticket.
On Friday, he was presented with a giant million-dollar lottery check after he was the first million-dollar winner of the new $10 scratch-off game called $200 Million Cash Spectacular.
For the past several years, Perry and his brother, Tom, would go to the Citgo at 1200 Rand Road, Wauconda, when he had some extra money and buy some scratch-off tickets.
"That's my game of choice," said Perry. He wanted to play the new game because there is a chance of 25 million-dollar winners — not just one, like other games. He has won the old $777 game and a $1,000 scratch-off in the past. He also plays the Lotto number games once in a while when the total cash prize gets big.
"I'm a fan of new games," he said. The brothers got home with the tickets and started scratching and there was the big winner.
"We looked at the ticket at least six times, and then we checked the numbers again," he said, "We could not believe our eyes."
The brothers had always had a pact that if they ever won big they would share it with the entire family. He has two brothers and two sisters.
His sister, Cori went out and bought the same type of scratch-off ticket after he told her the news. She ended up winning $500.
"I look at it as the whole family won," said the 42-year-old Perry who lost an arm to cancer years ago and has been cancer free since. The first thing he is going to do is find a better home for his mom, Laura, 65.
"We have to pay her back for all the sacrifices she made for us," he said. "She's helped us out a great deal and I want to make her life a little bit easier," said Perry, who volunteers full time at the Society of St. Francis, an animal shelter in Bristol, Wis.
For himself, he is going to buy a vehicle. "I don't know if it's going to be a Ford, Dodge or a Chevy," he said, "I'm not going to run around in a Viper. I'm a Plain Joe. I don't need much."
He also plans on catching up on some bills. The big payout "definitely put a smile on my face," he said.
He will not take the million over 20 years, but has opted for the one-time $600,000 pay out. Bhavik Shah, owner of the Citgo, will receive a $6,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.
The Cash Spectacular game has awarded more than $17 million in prizes to 660,509 winners since the game was launched Sept. 2. There have been four $20,000 winners and officials said there is another million-dollar winner from Lake County that will be announced soon.
Perry asked if he could mention the animal shelter and urge people to adopt a pet from there because there are about 180 cats and 120 dogs.
"We get a lot of people who just drop off animals and we find them in the morning," he said.
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