Lottery Week starts next Monday, and with the National Lottery Day on the 17th just around the corner, the Illinois Lottery is looking back at some highlights of the last year.
Who won?
In the fiscal year of 2025, running from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025, 90 Illinoisans became millionaires, taking home cash prizes of $1 million or more. Players took home $2.6 billion in total prizes, while retail partners earned an estimated $172 million in commissions and bonuses.
Students won big, too. Approximately 99% of proceeds from tickets sold went to the Common School Fund, which supports K-12 education funding in Illinois.
The lottery benefitted important causes as well. Specialty scratch tickets benefited the United Negro Fund, Alzheimer’s’ and breast cancer research, homelessness prevention, HIV/AIDS support services, Special Olympics Illinois, veterans’ assistance, multiple sclerosis research, and more.
Written in the stars?
A certain few Zodiac signs were deemed the luckiest in the last year. From 2024, here’s the number of million-dollar winners per sign:
- Aquarius: 12
- Capricorn, Aries, Leo: 11 each
- Libra, Scorpio, Taurus: 10 each
- Virgo: 9
- Cancer: 8
- Pisces: 6
- Gemini, Sagittarius: 5 each
When to play?
Based on prize data for the Illinois lottery, it seems like the start and end to your work week is the best time to play. Here’s how the days stack up from highest to lowest amount of millionaire wins:
- Friday
- Monday and Tuesday
- Wednesday
- Saturday
- Thursday
- Sunday