Illinois Woman Buys Wrong Lottery Ticket, Wins $250,000

An accidental buy for the ages.

While the Christmas Eve jackpot was super high, there was another winner over the holiday season who bought a lottery ticket for a game she wasn't intending to play.

Here's what happened, according to the Illinois Lottery. Holly from Johnston City meant to buy a $2 Booming Bucks ticket but she accidentally bought a $20 Magnificent Multiplier ticket. Holly says she was watching a movie when she bought the unintended ticket and said she didn't mean to spend that much.

The accident turned out to be a good one though, as she won the $250,000 FastPlay jackpot off of the Magnificent Multiplier ticket.

Illinois Lottery

When she found out she won the jackpot, she wasted no time telling her husband. She told the lottery:

I was sitting at my desk in my home office, I honestly thought my computer had crashed!...Before I could even show him the ticket, he said, ‘It’s so late—did you make a meme?’ I told him, ‘No silly—I won the jackpot!'

The win came at a really good time for her. Holly, a retired teacher, plans to build a new family home with the money and get herself a baby grand piano, so she can further pursue her passion for music.

The Illinois Lottery currently offers 35 FastPlay games. They don't involve scratching numbers, picking numbers, and no waiting for the winning numbers.

Holly's win is a good reminder that not all mistakes you'll make in the new year have to be bad ones!