News writer
Two lucky lottery players from Arkansas recently struck big prizes; both of them won by playing instant-win games.
Jeanene D. from Hot Springs Village won $100,000 cash playing a Big 777 scratch-off ticket. She purchased the ticket from Grace Convenience Store located at 468 West Grand Avenue in Hot Springs Village.
Jeanene stopped by the convenience store to buy a drink on her break from work and decided to buy an instant-win ticket while she was there. Though she usually prefers to play draw games like Mega Millions and Powerball, in an interview with the Arkansas Lottery, she said that sometimes she likes to buy $20 scratch-off games. However, on this occasion, all the $20 tickets had been sold, so Jeanene bought a Big 777 ticket for $5.
When she saw that she had won the $100,000 jackpot prize, she couldn't believe her eyes. She called her grandson and asked him:
Do you want to go to Little Rock in the morning?
At first, he had no idea why she would want to go until she told him she needed to go to the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery Claim Center in Little Rock to collect her winnings.
Although this was not her first win, it was her biggest prize so far. Previously, her biggest claim was $2,500. Jeanene plays to use her winning to pay off some bills and fix up her home.
Another Arkansas instant winner claims a prize
Shawn D. from Smithville also had a lottery win. His prize was $50,000, which he won by playing the $20 $50,000 Blast scratch-off game. He purchased his winning ticket from Tobacco Superstore #70, located at 1260 W. Kaiser Avenue in Osceola.
Shawn is a construction worker who doesn't play the lottery very often. On this occasion, he was with a coworker who decided to buy a couple of instant-win tickets, so Shawn decided to buy one of his own. He scratched off his ticket in the store and was stunned to see that he'd won a $50,000 prize.
He told the Arkansas Lottery:
I knew I'd better go to the truck. The adrenaline rush I'd had was making me sick to the stomach.
As soon as he started feeling better, he shared his good news with his family and friends. “First, they were excited,” he laughed. “Then it was, 'Can I get a loan?'” Shawn plans to use his winnings to buy his teenage son a vehicle.
How the lottery helps Arkansas
Since it was launched in 2009, the Arkansas Lottery has raised more than $1.3 billion for scholarships throughout the state. This has enabled more than 720,000 to get a college education. The Bear State Lottery has also awarded more than $4.8 billion in prizes.
