Lucky Illinois Gas Station Sells $550K Ticket

Just one impulsive decision can either make your life better or wreck it. Fortunately, for one person in Illinois their decision to pick up a ticket while gassing up has changed their life forever as they are now $550,000 richer.

According to the Illinois Lottery Unclaimed Jackpot and Daily Games site, someone stopped at this Walmart gas station in Carpentersville, Illinois on Monday, June 9 and bought a Lucky Day Lotto ticket.

So far, no one has stepped forward to claim their prize. Perhaps they fainted and haven't come to yet? Or, maybe they're hiring an accountant and lawyer to help them deal with their newfound wealth? $550,000 dollars is a big chunk of change even with Illinois taxes taken out of it.

How much tax would be taken out of a $550,000 Illinois lottery win?

I asked the robots to do some tax calculations for me and the approximate take home would be after all the federal and state taxes were removed. It said that $27,225 would be taken out by the state of Illinois. Federal taxes would amount to just over $132,000 (ouch). That's a total of over $159,000 taken out by "the man" so just under $400,000. That FICA guy is HARSH. Still, that would be a great problem to have. Would you accept $395,000 take home right now? I sure would so congratulations to the Illinois person that just did.