{"id":27852,"date":"2026-01-16T09:27:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T15:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=27852"},"modified":"2026-01-16T09:30:59","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T15:30:59","slug":"vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\/","title":{"rendered":"Vandalia Woman Wins $3 Million Lottery Prize"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p><strong>PHOTO:\u00a0<\/strong><em> The Illinois Lottery winner, celebrating her big win of the #3 million top prize on a scratch-off ticket.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A Vandalia woman is still reeling after winning a $3 million top prize on the Illinois Lottery\u2019s $30 Royal Riches scratch-off ticket\u2014thanks to a last-minute change in plans on Christmas Eve.<\/p>\n<p>The winner, who chose to remain anonymous, said she originally planned to purchase a ticket at another retailer, but the store was closed for the holiday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was going to stop at another gas station, but it was closed for Christmas Eve,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cPhillips was the only place open, so I decided to go there instead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The winning ticket was purchased at Phillips 66, located at 701 Veterans Ave. in Vandalia.\u00a0 A Vandalia native, the winner was visiting family in her hometown when she purchased several scratch-off tickets, sharing some with her son and mother.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI kept the $30 ticket for myself,\u201d she said. \u201cI really liked the design.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I scanned the ticket at the store, I honestly thought the machine was broken\u2014until I realized I had won $3 million,\u201d the lucky winner said.<\/p>\n<p>The newly minted millionaire plans to use part of her prize to support her family while setting aside the rest for retirement.\u00a0 She also plans to continue running her cleaning business.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t plan on quitting,\u201d she said with a smile.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll take a family vacation, but I\u2019m still working.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For selling the winning ticket, the retailer will receive a bonus of one percent of the prize amount, totaling $30,000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PHOTO:\u00a0 The Illinois Lottery winner, celebrating her big win of the #3 million top prize on a scratch-off ticket. &nbsp; A Vandalia woman is still reeling after winning a $3 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":27859,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Vandalia Woman Wins $3 Million Lottery Prize - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vandalia Woman Wins $3 Million Lottery Prize - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-16T15:27:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-16T15:30:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Vandalia-lottery-Jan-2026-640.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"508\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brian Dust\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brian Dust\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brian Dust\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/39fe06da0da4c9cb2bbe7d552ddce8d9\"},\"headline\":\"Vandalia Woman Wins $3 Million Lottery Prize\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-16T15:27:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-16T15:30:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":261,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/Vandalia-lottery-Jan-2026-640.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Local News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\\\/\",\"name\":\"Vandalia Woman Wins $3 Million Lottery Prize - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/Vandalia-lottery-Jan-2026-640.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-16T15:27:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-16T15:30:59+00:00\",\"description\":\"Effingham's News and Sports Leader\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/Vandalia-lottery-Jan-2026-640.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/Vandalia-lottery-Jan-2026-640.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":508},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Vandalia Woman Wins $3 Million Lottery Prize\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/premier-logo-v1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/premier-logo-v1.png\",\"width\":272,\"height\":69,\"caption\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/39fe06da0da4c9cb2bbe7d552ddce8d9\",\"name\":\"Brian Dust\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/bdust\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Vandalia Woman Wins $3 Million Lottery Prize - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Vandalia Woman Wins $3 Million Lottery Prize - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","og_description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\/","og_site_name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","article_published_time":"2026-01-16T15:27:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-16T15:30:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":508,"url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Vandalia-lottery-Jan-2026-640.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Brian Dust","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Brian Dust","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\/"},"author":{"name":"Brian Dust","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/39fe06da0da4c9cb2bbe7d552ddce8d9"},"headline":"Vandalia Woman Wins $3 Million Lottery Prize","datePublished":"2026-01-16T15:27:06+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-16T15:30:59+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\/"},"wordCount":261,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Vandalia-lottery-Jan-2026-640.jpg","articleSection":["Local News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\/","name":"Vandalia Woman Wins $3 Million Lottery Prize - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Vandalia-lottery-Jan-2026-640.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-16T15:27:06+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-16T15:30:59+00:00","description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Vandalia-lottery-Jan-2026-640.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Vandalia-lottery-Jan-2026-640.jpg","width":640,"height":508},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/27852-vandalia-woman-wins-3-million-lottery-prize\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Vandalia Woman Wins $3 Million Lottery Prize"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/","name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/premier-logo-v1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/premier-logo-v1.png","width":272,"height":69,"caption":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/39fe06da0da4c9cb2bbe7d552ddce8d9","name":"Brian Dust","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/author\/bdust\/"}]}},"modified_by":"Brian Dust","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27852"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27865,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27852\/revisions\/27865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}