Mother wins $1.4 million lottery using child's birthday numbers

The strategy for picking lottery numbers can run the gamut of superstition, ranging from lucky numbers to keeping the same picks through the years.

One mother found success using her child's birthdate to select the five lucky numbers that helped her win $1.4 million last week in the Lucky Day Lotto jackpot, part of the Illinois Lottery.

According to a release from the Illinois Lottery, the woman, nicknamed "Lucky Mom," said she found out the news after waking up to tend to her crying baby.

"My baby woke up crying, and after tucking them back into bed, I had trouble falling back asleep. So to pass the time, I opened the lottery app on my phone, and I couldn't believe it when it showed that I had just won $1.4 million! Absolutely wackadoodle," she said in a statement included in the release.

"I've played Lucky Day Lotto here and there, and when I do, I use my kids' birthdays as my lucky numbers," she said.

The winning numbers, which were selected in the evening drawing on March 6, were 6, 8, 16, 17 and 20.

Speaking about her win, "Lucky Mom" said, "I have the best job in the world: I'm a stay at home mom, and I already feel very lucky and blessed for where I'm at in life -- but today, the word 'lucky' took on a whole new meaning."

She said she joked with her husband afterward about revealing which child's birthday translated to the lucky number selection.

"After I won, I asked my husband 'Do you want to know which kid's birthday helped us win the jackpot?'" she recalled asking her husband.