CHICAGO (WLS/CNN) - A Chicago janitor who fled Iraq with his wife during the war has a lot to be happy about.
He's now a millionaire, and he got his winning lottery check on the tenth anniversary of the U.S. led invasion.
Hakmat Yalda and his wife came to the U-S five years ago to escape the violence in their homeland.
Yalda bought a ticket for the March 6 Illinois lottery drawing at a convenience store.
He says he walked up to the counter and learned he had won four dollars in the previous drawing, so he decided to play Powerball again.
Yalda missed the drawing on TV, and was stunned when he showed his numbers to a store clerk.
"She tells me, 'You won.' I tell her, 'How much I won?' She tells me $1 million. I tell her, 'No you're joking for me.' She said, 'I swear to God, $1 million. You won,'" said Yalda.
The couple plans to buy a house, but Yalda is not planning to quit his janitor job. Nor is he quitting the lottery. He has two tickets for Wednesday's Powerball drawing.
The jackpot is $260 million.
WLS/CNN