Nicole Gideon has some advice for lottery players: “Follow your instinct.”
The 25-year-old Northbrook woman recently won the $200,000 Lucky Day Lotto jackpot and decided on a whim to play her own numbers, inspired by her family.
Gideon, who works as an accountant in Chicago, said she was having lunch with her mother when she decided to use her family members' birthdays.
“After lunch, we stopped to buy a lottery ticket," she said. "I like to play Quick Picks, but this time I decided to choose my own numbers, and I won!”
She asked her mother to hold onto the ticket and check it for her after the drawing. Her mother found the ticket in her wallet a week later and discovered it was a winner.
“My mom called me at work to tell me that I won and I thought she was joking," Gideon said. "I couldn’t believe that the numbers I chose actually won.”
As for what she plans to use the money for, Gideon said she hopes to take a trip to her native country of Morocco.
The winning ticket was purchased at RSTN Incorporated, a convenience store at 20 N. Clark St. in Chicago.
