Downers Grove Resident Strikes Gold in the Illinois Lottery

Dennis Eslit said he was so surprised he’d won the lottery that he asked the convenience store clerk to double-check his ticket at the register.

“When I heard him say I that I won a quarter of a million dollars, I started shaking,” Eslit, a resident of Downers Grove, said in a release from the Illinois Lottery.

Eslit paid $10 for and scratched his ‘$250,000 Crossword’ ticket at the Buckey’s Express at 1940 W. 75th St. in Woodridge and instantly won the top prize of $250,000. For selling the winning ticket, Buckey’s Express itself earned one percent of the winnings: $2,500.

Eslit said paying bills and investing in college for his kids were at the top of his priorities list when it comes to the money.

“Winning this lottery prize is a dream come true for an average guy like me,” he said. “Now I believe that anything is possible.”

There are 56 top prizes available for the ‘$250,000 Crossword’ ticket. Fifty-one have been claimed now, but five are still out there.

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