Two Arkansans claimed the lottery prizes of their dreams at the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery Claim Center on March 22.

North Little Rock resident Sandra R. recently won $75,000 playing the $3 Diamond Bingo instant game. She purchased the winning ticket at Circle K #309 on 1220 Highway 35 N. in Benton.

Sandra bought her ticket after a “random thought” during a grocery store trip. Sandra, who only plays lottery games “in a few spurts here and there,” completed her errands and purchased the eye-catching Diamond Bingo ticket with the remaining $3. She and a friend had discussed Bingo not long before, and the game was still on her mind.

The North Little Rock resident waited until the next day to scratch her ticket, then grew overwhelmed upon seeing she had won the $75,000 top prize. 

“No, this has got to be a mistake,” the woman thought.

Two close friends visited Sandra moments after she discovered her win.

“When we walked in the door, her face was completely red,” one friend shared with lottery officials. “We thought something was wrong.”

Sandra’s friends were initially skeptical after sharing the good news; one friend shared the woman was known to play jokes on them occasionally. Eventually won over, the friends celebrated Sandra’s win, and one accompanied her to the claim center.

“I’m going to wake up, and this is going to be a dream,” Sandra said.

With her prize, Sandra intends to start a college fund for her granddaughter and make a few purchases for herself.

Following Sandra’s win, one top prize remains on the Diamond Bingo instant game.

Another winner, Kelli W. from Fayetteville, won $25,000 in the March 20 LOTTO drawing.

The winning ticket was sold at Murphy Express 8559 on 3189 W. Wedington Drive in Fayetteville. The winning numbers were 11, 21, 24, 27, 28 and 29, and the bonus number was 25.

Kelli and her boyfriend, weekly LOTTO players, purchased the winning ticket for Kelli’s birthday. They had initially planned to buy a ticket for the Saturday, March 23 drawing, as her birthday fell on the same date. They opted for the Wednesday draw instead and selected the same numbers they had used since December.

The pair scanned their ticket the following day and were mildly surprised to see a “claim at lottery” notification.

“Oh okay, we won like $500 or something,” the Fayetteville resident thought at the time.

Soon after, Kelli checked their numbers and realized they had won much more. By matching five out of six winning numbers and the bonus number, the couple had landed a $25,000 prize.

“It was too good to be true,” Kelli shared with lottery officials. 

For Kelli, the prize is a “life-changing” amount of money. Though she and her boyfriend had played LOTTO consistently in hopes of hitting the jackpot, she is still overjoyed with the $25,000 prize. With it, the woman intends to purchase a much-needed new vehicle and pay some bills.

“This is a big happy birthday,” Kelli said. “The timing could not have been better.”

A $100,000 Powerball® ticket was sold at Tobacco Superstore #85 on 1100 E. Main St. in Magnolia for the March 25 drawing. The winner has 180 days from the draw date to claim their prize.

For tonight’s drawing, the Mega Millions® jackpot skyrockets to $1.13 billion. For Wednesday night’s drawing, the Powerball jackpot is $865 million.

This is the first time both Powerball and Mega Millions have advertised jackpots of $800 million or more simultaneously.

For more information on the lottery, visit MyArkansasLottery.com.

About the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery
The Arkansas Scholarship Lottery (ASL) creates winning people, winning futures, and winning moments. Since 2009, the ASL has sold over $7.2 billion and returned more than $1.3 billion for scholarships to benefit Arkansas students. More than 720,000 college scholarships distributed by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education have been awarded to Arkansans. The lottery has awarded more than $4.9 billion in prizes to players, more than $409 million in retailer commissions, and provided more than $175 million in state and federal tax revenue.

Follow the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Visit MyArkansasLottery.com for more information on scholarships, winners, games, odds, promotions – and to join The Club for free. To get help with problem gambling, contact the National Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-522-4700.

Sandra R. of North Little Rock won $75,000 playing Diamond Bingo.

Fayetteville resident Kelli W. claimed $25,000 playing LOTTO.