Mattoon Man is $100,000 Lottery Winner at Fast Stop

A Mattoon man who is a regular customer has been identified as the $100,000 lottery winner at Fast Stop General Store in Effingham.

(FROM LEFT, BRIAN DAHNKE OF FAST STOP GENERAL STORE AND $100,000 LOTTERY WINNER ROBERT HOWELL)

Robert Howell works for CCSR in Mattoon. Fast Stop Store Manager Brian Dahnke said Howell was in Thursday morning, as usual, to pick up a soda and checked his Lottery ticket. He got an unusual message and asked an attendant at the store what it meant. She asked, "Are you our big winner?" He asked what she meant and she told him the store had sold a big Lottery winning ticket. He had to ask how much he won, and then learned he had won $100,000.

It's unclear when Howell will get his winnings due to the state's budget impasse, but he will eventually. Fast Stop will get an amount equal to 1% of the winning ticket amount, or $1,000.