News writer; Opinion columnist
There’s no better way to start a month than with some major wins, and by that standard, Arkansas Lottery players are having a fantastic April. On April 9, three lucky players showed up to the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery Claim Center to cash in winning tickets worth a combined $325,000.
From Powerball to scratch-off tickets, these players scored big and are making their dreams come true. Read on to learn which games had the biggest payouts to start the month.
Power player
On January 2nd, 2010, an anonymous Arkansas player kicked off the new year by winning a $25 million Powerball jackpot with a ticket he purchased from a Cracker Box in Mayflower. This player is the only person in Arkansas history to win a Powerball jackpot.
However, plenty of players in the Natural State have managed to hit it big over the years playing the multi-state draw game. Rogers resident Aaron Piedra was the latest to take home a significant prize, winning $150,000 from the April 3 Powerball drawing.
Piedra purchased his ticket at Murphy USA in Rogers. He chose the Quick Pick and added a multiplier that tripled his prize. The winning numbers were 11, 38, 41, 62, and 65, with a Powerball number of 15.
Piedra says he’s a regular lottery player and didn’t check his ticket immediately after the drawing. It was only after his wife saw a news story that said a winning ticket had been sold at one of his favorite retailers that she decided to check the ticket and learned that they had won a six-figure payout.
He told lottery officials, “We freaked out the whole Sunday–screamed, and jumped, and danced and everything.”
While he was just one number away from collecting the $1.3 billion jackpot, Piedra and his wife were still thrilled with their big win and said they planned to use their winnings to pay off the mortgage on their house.
Scratch a win
Instant win game $100,000 Payout lived up to its name for Pine Bluff resident T. Nelson. His life changed when he was driving to work with a friend, and they decided to stop at their local SR Quick Mart and pick up a few scratch-off tickets.
Nelson picked up a $100,000 Payout ticket for five dollars, and his friend bought two more. They played their tickets immediately to see who won the biggest prize, and Nelson definitely came out on top when he won the jackpot.
Nelson was so surprised by his win that he had to ask his friend to verify it for him. “I was so shocked I ended up passing the ticket to him to check,” he told lottery officials.
He says that he’s most excited to use the money to make improvements to his home and pay off his debts.
Playing $100,000 Payout is as simple as matching any of your fifteen numbers to the game’s four winning numbers. Uncovering a 2X or 5X symbol means that you instantly win the prize shown and multiply its value by two or five.
While Nelson has already collected one of the game’s top prizes, two more are still waiting to be won.
Bingo FTW
Rogers might be the luckiest town in Arkansas this month. Another resident scored a big payout in a lottery game.
Laurie Miller was ready to celebrate after scoring a big win playing a Bingo Extra scratch-off game. She purchased the ticket for $3 at the Jiffy Kwick in Rogers and scratched her way to the $75,000 top prize.
Miller was ecstatic with her win and said that she plans to pay down her debts and have a little fun with her money.
Bingo Extra is a game that offers several ways to win. Players start by revealing all 28 numbers on the Caller’s Card. Next, they must match these numbers to the numbers on the three-game grids. Players win if they can form a complete line across the game grid, either horizontally, vertically or diagonally, match the four corners of the grid, or create a complete X containing eight numbers and the center free square.
Two top prizes are still waiting to be claimed on the game, and even if you don’t win, you can enter your ticket into a bonus Play it Again drawing for a second chance at winning a prize.
April showers bring cash
While these were the lucky winners from the weekend, the first ten days of April have already seen several big winners. One hundred eight players won at least $500, and two more six-figure winners were added to the ones mentioned above, including K. Anthony of Harrel, who won $100,000 playing Powerball. Her initial prize was $50,000, but because she added a multiplier to her ticket, she doubled her winnings.
While the in-state draw game Cash 4 created the most winners, Powerball delivered the biggest prizes to Arkansas residents to start the month. In the last week alone, Cash 4 paid out $42,900 to fifteen different players, and thirteen LOTTO players, a state-exclusive draw game, won $16,527.
