'Lucky' Liquor Store Sells Another Winning Lottery Ticket

CARPENTERSVILLE, IL — A "lucky" liquor store in Carpentersville has sold its second multi-million dollar winning Illinois Lottery ticket in three years.

Shar’s Armanetti Fine Wines & Spirits, located at 222 W. Main Street in Carpentersville, sold the winning jackpot scratch-off ticket worth $3 million to one of its regular customers, according to a news release from The Illinois Lottery. The lucky customer spent $30 on a Titanium Black 7s instant ticket and ended up winning the games top prize.

The store owner, Dhiren Patel, says the big winner, who visits the store often, thanked him on the spot.

“She scratched the ticket right in front of me after purchasing it and I witnessed the shocked look on her face,” Patel said. “She then came over closer to me and excitedly said ‘Pinch me, I need to make sure this is real! I won a big amount - thank you, thank you!’ It’s so exciting when the big wins go to our regular, local customers.”

This isn’t the first time the retailer has sold a big winning scratch-off ticket. It happened before, and Patel now believes he may be a good luck charm.

“We must be a lucky location for Lottery players,” Patel said. “Three years ago, in March of 2020, we had a $6 million Instant Ticket winner. It was during Covid, so business was quiet and sadly, we didn’t get to celebrate that win with the customer - so this is an especially exciting win for our store!”

For selling the winning ticket, Shar’s Armanetti Wines & Spirits will receive a bonus of 1 percent of the winning ticket, which in this case amounts to $30,000.

Patel plans to use the bonus to make some improvements to his business while also putting some money towards his kids’ college funds. So far this year, 20 other Illinois Lottery players have become millionaires after winning on Instant Tickets, according to the news release.