Illinois man went to claim $1,000 - he ended up walking out with $1M

• An Illinois man received an envelope with lottery tickets for his birthday
• One of those tickets would turn out to be a seven-figure winner
• The man and his wife marched over to the Illinois Lottery to claim what they thought was a $1,000 prize

An Illinois man is now richer and on a very special day, too - his birthday. The winner from Bradwood County has already stepped forward to claim his $1,000,000 prize, which was the windfall of a friend giving him a lottery ticket as a present for the winner’s special day.

Funnily, he never realized how much he had won and actually demanded the lottery pay him $1,000.

The couple decides to go claim their "small" lottery prize

The friend had offered an envelope with several lottery tickets enclosed inside, but they perhaps never suspected they were also handing over the key to a seven-figure payout. Regardless, the man was baffled at what had happened. He admitted that he could never even imagine himself winning.

To make things even funnier still, the man and his wife were actually heading over to the Illinois Lottery headquarters to claim his prize - having missed a few zeroes. The couple actually believed the prize was worth $1,000, having dismissed the extra zeros as an impossibility. Realization dawned slowly, hesitantly.

"I didn't even think I won anything at first glance. I had one of my friends check the ticket. He must've also overlooked it, because he said I only won a grand. I thought, 'Wow, a thousand bucks isn't bad; this was a great day.'

Not a $1,000 after all

"But I was not prepared for what came next," the man told the Illinois Lottery, describing his incredulity at the fact that he had won a million bucks. Recounting the story, the man said that he had informed Illinois Lottery staffers that he had won $1,000 and sought to collect it.

Naturally, the Bradwood County posed for the customary photo-op with the oversized check, choosing a moniker for himself - "Florida Bound"

The employee handling his case flashed a smile and observed, "Sir, you actually won a million dollars" with the man taken aback and his wife starting to cry. Yet, the couple has since fully settled in the new reality and has even planned what to do with the money - spend on the kids’ birthdays as well as celebrate their 40th anniversary together by going on a cruise.

Florida Bound had also placed a side bet, fetching him an extra $2, pushing his total prize to $1,000,002.

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