Multiple customers pointed me in the direction of a man sitting among his friends telling me he just won a million dollars with a scratch-off lottery ticket.
Upon the game-winning field goal by Bears' kicker Robbie Gould, approached the man and gathered his contact information for an eventual story.
Waukeganite hits paydirt with
scratch-off ticket
A million to one
January 17, 2007
By Jason Arndt
The News-Sun
WAUKEGAN - Waukegan High School
Counselor Ray Cave is just like any other person. He spends time with
his son, hangs out at a local tavern and supports local high school
athletics.
That has all changed since Dec. 21 when he scratched off a
game-winning $1 million Instant Lotto ticket, assuring him of
$720,000 after state taxes.
"There were only four people in
Jesters at the time, including the cook and the bartender," Cave
said. "I kept scratching off the winning ticket and the more I
scratched it went up from 1,000 to 10,000, and I began shaking the
more I scratched it off."
Cave did not believe he won after
realizing the ticket was worth a million.
"I had the bartender verify the
winnings in a scanning machine and I realized I won. I called my
girlfriend, my relatives and they all didn't believe me, which was
disappointing," Cave said.
The anxiety crept up on him when he
returned to his Waukegan home. He said he was sick to his stomach and
"was afraid to go to sleep because he thought he would wake up
and realize it was a dream he won a million dollars at Jesters."
His stomach pains over the anxiety
caused him to call in sick for the day at Waukegan High.
Despite the winnings, Cave does not
anticipate quitting his job as a full-time counselor at Waukegan
High.
"Absolutely not. There are too
many great kids there. I have been there for 16 years from being
everything from a teacher to wrestling coach and now I am a
counselor," he said. "I plan on staying there to set an
example for my son, Michael."
Cave said he is looking forward to
using the winnings to take care of his son's short- and long-term
future.
His number one priority after he
receives the winnings is to set up a trust fund for his son so he can
attend any college of his choice.
"I want him to know that his
college tuition is taken care of," Cave said.
The newfound winnings will allow the
two Caves to do more extra activities his son would have never
dreamed.
"We do a lot of things together,
such as going to professional baseball games, fishing. We love to
fish. We go fishing around the area here," Cave said. "In
the summer we go to the beach. I try to be active with him as much as
I can. What I am really looking forward is to is professional events
such as football and basketball."
With the expensive prices of football
and basketball games, he was unable to take his son to the games
prior to his winning ticket.
"He loves football just as much as
I do. He is a huge Bear fan and what I am really excited about is
instead of saying, 'We will watch the Bears on TV, we will see the
Bears,'" Cave said. "Those are the memories my son will
remember for life."
The 48-year-old is hoping the wealth
will not change peoples' perspective of him.
"I want to stay the person I am. I
love the people around me, I love the people here at Jesters and I
love the people at Waukegan High School. I want to be the same
person," Cave said. "I want to still be able to walk into
Jesters and people still greet me as 'Rey' and just be known as
someone more financially comfortable."
In addition to being part of Waukegan
High, he is a part-time teacher at the College of Lake County's
Lakeshore Campus.
"I plan on completing my one-year
contract with them and then resigning," Cave said. "I spent
every Monday night doing paperwork until 10 and now I look forward to
watching "Monday Night Football" here at Jesters."
Cave has a sense of sentimentality
toward what he does for a living and stresses the importance of
children and the impact it has had in his life.
"I could have made much more money
working for a corporation but I felt that my calling was to be in
education and work with teenagers and helping them," Cave said.
"Instead of receiving financial gain in this, I received what
people perceive as priceless, working with kids and watching kids I
have seen since grade school mature and grow into a successful young
people. For me, that is priceless over any amounts of money."
As he receives his $720,000 lump sum
from the Illinois Lottery Commission, he will be working with Great
Lakes Financial, his bank, to set up a financial plan.
The newest millionaire was struck twice
with lottery fever, winning $10,000 in a previous scratch off at the
same place, Jesters at 1500 N. Lewis Ave.
"I had to claim the winnings at
the lottery center in Des Plaines and I held onto it and feared it
wouldn't be legit when I deposited it into the bank," Cave said.
Jesters will receive $10,000 of the
winnings for being the location which issued the ticket.
Jesters' owner Ken Mathis will use the
$10,000 for cost of bar operations and due to the slow activity since
the holiday rush, will be used to help offset costs.
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