‘It’s about time.’ Longtime lottery player wins top prize with Arkansas scratch-off
A woman who has played scratch-offs for many years finally hit big with a top prize, Arkansas lottery officials said.
The Little Rock woman, who said she is a big fan of instant play tickets, had occasionally won small prizes ranging from $10 to $100, according to a Dec. 22 Arkansas Scholarship Lottery news release. But those prizes paled in comparison to the large sum she brought home after claiming her prize Dec. 21, lottery officials said.
“It’s about time,” she said in the release.
The woman stopped by a Shell gas station to pick up a $10 scratch-off — something that has become a daily habit for her, lottery officials said.
She went back home to scratch off her ticket, lottery officials said. But when she saw how much she had won, the woman rushed back to the gas station to confirm if she won as much as she was seeing on her ticket.
On her ticket was the icon depicting $200,000 — the top prize you can win on an Arkansas Diamonds scratch-off ticket.
She had heard of other large lottery winners in the area, but none from Little Rock, lottery officials said. She never expected to win this big herself.
“I just can’t believe it happened,” the woman said, per the release.
The first person the woman told was her daughter, who couldn’t believe how much her mother had just won, according to lottery officials.
“Mama, stop playing,” her daughter said in the release.
The daughter encouraged her mother to buy a cruise ticket, but the woman told lottery officials she plans to focus on paying off bills first.
This story was originally published December 22, 2023 at 5:59 PM with the headline "‘It’s about time.’ Longtime lottery player wins top prize with Arkansas scratch-off."
