Illinois Lottery Launches "Set for Life"

If you've ever considered buying a lottery ticket, this is the summer to start. The Illinois Lottery is giving away $200 million in total available prizes through its largest ever second chance promotion, called "Set for Life."

The Lottery is holding weekly drawings for 16 weeks, where one winner will be randomly drawn to participate in a not-to-be-missed grand finale event on Sept. 30th at Wrigley Field. The 16 lucky winners will walk away with one of the following: $100,000 a year for life, the cash equivalent of a new leased car every year for life or the cash equivalent of a fabulous vacation every year for life.

The first week's winner, Wayne Koepple of Round Lake Beach, hopes that he is lucky enough to take home the $100,000 grand prize. The only downside of being the first "Set for Life" winner is that Koepple has to wait until Sept. 30 to learn which prize he will win at the grand finale event.

"There are friends of mine who say, now that they've seen that I've won, they're going to start playing the Lottery," said Koepple, who intends to continue playing Lottery.

"Every year, the Lottery strives to bring its players the ultimate winning experience, and this year we've really outdone ourselves," said Illinois Lottery Superintendent Carolyn Adams. "At times like these, I really wish that I could play!"

To enter, players must send in $30 worth of eligible non-winning tickets from the "Set for Life" instant ticket suite or any "Pick 'n Play" tickets. Players can mail in entries or submit online at IllinoisLottery.com by Sept. 1.

"It's always such a rewarding experience for the Lottery when we see our players win big, but 'Set For Life' takes things to a whole new level," added Superintendent Adams. "It's amazing that we're able to reward our players with prizes that they can appreciate for the rest of their lives; this is huge for us!"

Last summer's second chance promotion, "Road to Riches," had a record breaking $150 million in available prizes. Lottery qualified winners over a period of 20 weeks for a chance to win a brand new Chrysler car and cash prizes ranging from $25,000 to $1 million. Winners had to wait until the grand finale event hosted by Robin Leach, of the hit show "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous," at U.S. Cellular Field on Sept. 24, 2005 to find out which car and how much money they won. Barb Delgado of Downers Grove, Barbara Zientara of Villa Park each won a new car and $100,000 while Marion Domanski of Rockford walked away with a cool $1 million in addition to his new car.

"I didn't even realize I had won. Robin Leach had to tell me three times before it hit me," said an overwhelmed Domanski at a press conference immediately following the game. "I feel like I'm going to pass out and my knees are buckling ... Thank You Lord!"

"In September 'Set for Life' winners will experience for themselves the excitement Marion Domanski felt last summer," said Superintendent Adams.

2006-06-08