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Wicker Park Liquor Store Sells $1 Million Lottery Ticket

By Alisa Hauser | January 2, 2014 10:46am
 Ted Liacopoulos, manager of Rite Liquors, and bartender Brittney Fisher.
Ted Liacopoulos, manager of Rite Liquors, and bartender Brittney Fisher.
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DNAinfo/Alisa Hauser

WICKER PARK — The year is off to a lucky start for a Division Street liquor store that recently learned it sold a $1 million "Cash Spectacular" scratch-off Lotto ticket.

"We're excite. Finally got the big one," said Ted Liacopoulos, manager of Rite Liquors at 1649 W. Division St. in Wicker Park.

Meanwhile, time is running out for the winner of a $100,000 prize from a Lucky Day Lotto ticket purchased from a Wicker Park gas station.

The $1 million ticket was sold at Rite Liquors as part of the "$250,000,000 Cash Spectacular." The $1 million prize from the scratch-off ticket, sold Dec. 20, has been claimed, confirmed Illinois Lottery spokeswoman Micaela Small.

 Rite Liquors sold a Cash Spectacular scratch-off Lotto ticket on Dec. 20, 2013, that resulted in a $1 million win.
Rite Liquors in Wicker Park
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Liacopoulos said that his father, Rite Liquor's owner Mike Liacopoulos, was notified about the winning ticket on Monday. 

Rite Liquors will get 1 percent, or $10,000 of the winning prize amount, Small said.

The winning ticket holder's name is expected to be shared in the near future, when officials from the Illinois Lottery host a formal check presentation ceremony at Rite Liquors, Small said.

The $250,000,000 Cash Spectacular Ticket is part of the Illinois Lottery's "Instant Possibilities" games, which cost $10-$30 per ticket.

Cash Spectacular launched on May 7, 2013, and offers 30 $1 million prizes, with gamblers having a 1 in 3.42 chance of winning a prize, which they have one year to claim.

As of Monday, there were 24 $1 million prizes still available in the Cash Spectacular game, Small said.

Before the recent win, Ted Liacopoulos said the store's biggest scratch-off win came on Jan. 27, 1995, when a customer won $70,000.

Both a liquor store and a neighborhood bar, Rite Liquors has been in business for 35 years and sells 25 different types of scratch-off tickets through a Lottery machine.

In other Lottery news, a $100,000  "Lucky Day Lotto" prize from a ticket sold at a BP Amoco gas station at 1551 W. North Ave. in Wicker Park on Jan. 10, 2013, will go unclaimed if the holder of the ticket doesn't come forward in the next eight days.

A Dec. 24 news release advises Lotto ticket holders to "look in cookie jars, glove compartments and anywhere else you may have stashed a winning lottery ticket."

The winning numbers from the Lucky Day Lotto drawing on Jan. 10, 2013, were 14, 17, 22, 29 and 38, according to the alert.

On Thursday, Small said that the winner will forfeit the $100,000 if he or she does not come forward by 5 p.m. on Jan. 10.