A west suburban woman officially accepted her $2 million lottery prize Tuesday after using her old sports jersey number to choose the winning scratch-off ticket.
Monique Abbate, 39, purchased the “$2,000,000 EXTRAVAGANZA!” ticket from Convenience Food and Liquor, at 4559 S. Harlem Ave., in Forest View.
She chose the ticket from a bin marked "10" because it’s the number that adorned her old basketball and softball jerseys, Abbate said in a statement.
Abbate scratched the ticket off in her car, and rushed home to record her mother’s and grandmother’s reactions.
"I started screaming," said Abbate, a school administrator. "I couldn’t believe it."
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Abbate said she will use the winnings to pay off student loans that financed her bachelor’s and two master’s degrees. She said she'll also plan a trip to Las Vegas for family and 14 of her friends later this month.
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Convenience Food and Liquor will receive $20,000, or 1 percent of the prize amount.