Sterling Shell station sells $1 million Powerball ticket

STERLING – “Good morning, lucky lottery store!”

That’s the cheerful greeting you get if you call Johnson Oil’s Shell station and convenience store at 2404 E. Lincolnway, where a winning $1 million Powerball ticket was bought.

The Illinois Lottery has not yet released the name of the winner.

Winning numbers for Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing were: 40-53-60-68-69 and a Powerball of 22.

The jackpot-winning ticket worth $731.1 million – the fifth-largest lottery prize in U.S. history – was sold in Lonaconing, a struggling coal mining town of about 300 families in Maryland.

Another $1 million ticket was sold at an Amoco gas station in Chicago, and there were three other winning tickets sold in Illinois, two worth $150,000 and one worth $50,000.

It had been more than 4 months since anyone won the Powerball, allowing the game’s jackpot to grow so large.

An even larger Mega Millions jackpot – and estimated $970 million, the second-largest in the game’s history – will be up for grabs Friday night.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.