This way for Gold; Illinois Lottery and Chicago Blackhawks team up for a St. Patrick's Day Surprise

CHICAGO, March 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- If a leprechaun told you to follow him, would you? Well, a number of Chicagoans decided to follow a leprechaun holding a sign that read, "Blackhawks Fans, Follow me to the Gold!" down Michigan Avenue and into the Blackhawks store where they were treated to an amazing surprise – a personal appearance from Chicago Blackhawk, Patrick Sharp and a chance to view his 2014 Winter Games gold medal!  Click here to watch as these unsuspecting guests of Patrick Sharp experience a moment they won't soon forget. While you may have missed out on meeting Mr. Sharp with his gold medal in tow, a pot of gold can be found at the end of the Illinois Lottery's St. Patrick's Day Millionaire Raffle in the form of a million dollars! With only seven days left in the raffle, the Illinois Lottery is reminding players to buy their tickets before it's too late. Tickets for this year's Raffle went on sale February 14, and will remain on sale until all raffle tickets are sold or through March 17, 2014.

The St. Patrick's Day Millionaire Raffle is one of the Lottery's most popular games and gives players the best odds to win a million dollars by offering a chance to win one of four (4) $1 million prizes, five (5) $100,000 prizes and five-hundred (500) $1,000 prizes.

St. Patrick's Day Raffle is played like a typical raffle game with a finite number of tickets (500,000) and prizes. Each $20 raffle ticket, available only at brick and mortar lottery retailers, contains a unique number generated by the Lottery terminal. Raffle tickets are sold in sequential order throughout the state beginning at 3:30 a.m. CST on February 14 starting with ticket number 000001. To win one of the 509 prizes, a player's raffle ticket must exactly match one of the 509 winning numbers selected in the drawing. If the raffle game does not sell out, the selection of 509 winners will still take place, with winners selected from the pool of sold tickets. 

The St. Patrick's Day Raffle drawing will be held on March 18, 2014. Winning raffle numbers will be available on the Illinois Lottery's website at www.illinoislottery.com.

About Illinois Lottery
Founded in 1974, the Illinois Lottery has contributed over $18 billion to the state's Common School Fund to assist K-12 public schools, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars to the Capital Projects Fund and to special causes like Illinois Veterans, the fight against breast cancer, MS research, and assistance for people living with HIV/AIDS. In addition to playing in-store, the Illinois Lottery offers online and mobile play for Mega Millions, Powerball and Lotto at illinoislottery.com. Players must be at least 18 years old.

Contact: Chanele Newton (312) 368-5814

SOURCE Illinois Lottery