Lucky Day Lotto Illinois Exposed — Amazing Odds 7 Days per Week!

Lucky Day Lotto Review

Have you ever heard about a lottery that holds not one, but two drawings per day, every single day of the week? You haven’t? Well, that’s about to change, once we acquaint you with the Lucky Day Lotto from Illinois.

Lucky Day Lotto is the renovated version of a previous Illinois game. It has a number of wonderful features. Apart from being available solely on the territory of the state, Lucky Day Lotto doesn’t have that many shortcomings and it’s definitely worth a try.

Check out this Jackpocket review to know if it’s available in Illinois

A Brief History of Lucky Day Lotto

Lucky Day Lotto is the descendant of another Illinois lottery.

It all started in 1988 when Illinois launched its Cash 5 game. Initially, the game had a 5 from 35 format, and drawings were held three times per week. In 1989, the game was renamed Little Lotto.

The history of the game continued to change through the years. In 1998, drawings started taking place 5 times per week, Monday through Friday. A name change occurred in 2012 when Little Lotto became Lucky Day Lotto. The matrix also changed to the current format – 5 from 45. Drawings were introduced 7 days per week, 2 times per day.

Is Lucky Day Lotto Illinois a Scam?

The Illinois State Lottery was founded in 1974. Ever since drawings have been verified by both accounting and auditing companies to ensure fairness. This is the only state lottery that has its drawings broadcast on television nationwide and even in parts of Canada.

Apart from distributing prizes among the winners, Illinois State Lottery also contributes to good causes with some of the funds generated through ticket sales. A portion of the proceeds goes to the state’s Common School Fund and the Capital Projects Fund which finances infrastructural improvements.

Apart from Lucky Day Lotto, the Illinois Lottery portfolio features numerous other entries. A few of the most popular lotteries in the state include Pick 3, Pick 4, Lotto, Powerball, and Mega Millions.

How to Play Lucky Day Lotto?

Of all the jackpot games in the US, Lucky Day Lotto comes with the best odds of winning the jackpot. For your chance, choose 5 numbers from a pool of 45. If you match all for the respective daily drawing, you’ll be a jackpot winner.

Lucky Day Lotto has a minimum guaranteed jackpot of 100,000 dollars. If there’s no winner for the respective drawing, the sum will roll over towards the next one.

Each ticket costs 1 dollar and for an additional dollar, you can also get the EZmatch option. EZmatch gives you a chance to win instant prizes of up to 500 dollars. EZmatch enables the addition of 5 more numbers to the ticket. If you match just one of the EZmatch numbers, you’ll win an additional prize. Each of the additional numbers is linked to a certain numerical prize and the value is also printed on the ticket.

Drawings take place 2 times per day – at 12:40 p.m. and at 9:22 p.m. CST. The winning numbers will be announced on TV and they can also be checked via the official Illinois Lottery website.

Prizes and Odds

The top prize starts at 100,000 dollars and it rolls over in the case of no winner. If there’s more than one winner, the sum will be split among all of the individuals having 5 matches. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 1,221,759.

The biggest jackpot ever in the history of Lucky Day Lotto was 1.5 million dollars. This massive amount fell in March 2016.

Several other impressive jackpots have been won in the history of Lucky Day Lotto. In August 2014, Mario Chavez from Warrenville won a jackpot of 800,000 dollars. He opted for a quick pick ticket rather than playing with his own numbers.

Another big jackpot fell once again in August but the year was 2015. The lucky ticket was purchased in Chicago and the jackpot sum had reached 550,000 dollars by that point.

Apart from the jackpot, Lucky Day Lotto has 3 additional prize tiers. Match 4 numbers for a chance to win 200 dollars. The odds of this happening are 1 in 6,109. Three correct numbers produce a prize of 15 dollars (odds of 1 in 157) and the prize for 2 correct numbers is 1 dollar (odds of 1 in 12). The overall odds of winning a Lucky Day Lotto prize are 1 in 11.

The odds of winning the top EZmatch prize are 1 in 13,000. Apart from the top 500 dollars prize, EZmatch has 5 additional prize tiers and the sums range from 100 to 5 dollars.

Useful Information for Winners

Prizes valued up to 600 dollars can be claimed at any authorized retail venue. Retailers can scan the barcode of the ticket to check for the main prize and to figure out if an EZMatch sum has been won on top of that.

A prize claim can also be made via mail. All you have to do is download the claim form from the Illinois Lottery website, fill it out and send it to the organization’s headquarters in Springfield.

Prizes worth more than 600 dollars can be claimed at one of the Illinois Prize Claim Centers in the state. All of the addresses are listed on the lottery’s official website.

All winners have one year from the date of the drawing to make a prize claim.

Keep in mind that lottery winners in Illinois will be subjected to an income tax. A 25 percent federal tax applies to the prizes won by US citizens. For non-US citizens, the federal income tax is 30 percent and it’s withheld from the sum of 5,000 dollars or more. An Illinois state tax of 3.75 dollars applies to all prizes exceeding 1,000 dollars.

Can You Play Lucky Day Lotto Illinois Online?

Lucky Day Lotto tickets can be purchased online through the Illinois Lottery website. There’s one condition, however, you have to be on the territory of the state to buy a ticket this way. A mobile app is also available for added convenience.

Illinois Lottery tickets are currently not available through online lottery agents. You have no way of buying tickets if you live in another state or another country.

Why You Should Play Lucky Day Lotto Illinois

Pros:

A single ticket costs 1 dollar

The EZmatch additional chance to win prizes is available for an additional dollar

The drawings take place 2 times per day, 7 days per week

There’s a minimum guaranteed jackpot of 100,000 dollars

The jackpot will roll over if there’s no winner for the respective drawing

The odds of winning the jackpot are pretty favorable

The odds of winning any prize are also quite favorable

Some of the funds generated through ticket sales go to support good causes in Illinois

Obviously, Lucky Day Lotto has a lot to offer. Before rushing out to buy your tickets, however, you may also want to consider a few disadvantages:

Why You Shouldn’t Play Lucky Day Lotto Illinois

Cons:

The minimum guaranteed jackpot isn’t that impressive – you may want to wait for the number to increase prior to playing

Lower prize tiers feature small amounts

Both federal and state taxes will apply to lottery prizes (exceeding 5,000 and 1,000 dollars respectively)

Only people living or working in the territory of Illinois can buy tickets

Is Lucky Day Lotto Illinois Legit?

Lucky Day Lotto is one of the games in the portfolio of the Illinois State Lottery. Because of this fact, the brief answer is no, the game is completely legitimate and not a scam. Lucky Day Lotto from Illinois is a wonderful lottery that comes with affordable tickets and 14 drawings per week.

It offers several cool perks (EZmatch is wonderful) and it costs very little to play. In essence, you have nothing to lose (apart from the 1 dollar you’ll have to invest in the purchase of the ticket). We declare Lucky Day Lotto completely legitimate!