Austin resident John B. won $40,000 in the May 31 Mega Millions® drawing. He claimed his prize at the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery Claim Center on June 5.

The winning ticket was sold at Pride One Stop on 3001 Highway 89 S. in Cabot. The winning numbers were 4, 11, 23, 33 and 49. The Megaball® number was 23, and the Megaplier® was 4.

John is an avid lottery player, having played in Florida and Arkansas for the last 40 years. As part of his daily routine, he purchased the winning Mega Millions ticket at his favorite retailer, Pride One. He picked his own numbers, using his birthday, his wife’s birthday, and the year they were born.

The Austin man checked the draw results the following morning and, recognizing the numbers, immediately knew he had won a prize.

“That’s the first time those numbers matched for me,” John shared with lottery officials.

At the time, John thought he had only won $800. Though he was a long-time player, it would have been his biggest prize to date.

To his surprise, the Austin resident had actually matched four out of the five numbers, plus the Megaball number, and won a $10,000 prize. Because he purchased his ticket with the Megaplier option, his prize quadrupled to $40,000.

John called his wife immediately to share the good news.

“I was just like, ‘Whew,’” the woman said, throwing up her hands. “I was happy for him.”

The Austin man then told his son, other family members and a few friends.

“Can we buy an island?” one granddaughter asked.

Though John notes that the prize is not quite enough to buy an island, he does have plans for his win. He intends to use his winnings to pay off a few bills after he takes his granddaughter on a shopping trip to Lululemon.

“We’re not going to spend it all at Lulu,” he laughed.

“Oh, I could,” his granddaughter added.

The Mega Millions jackpot was won at $560 million on June 4. The jackpot for Friday night's drawing has been reset to $20 million.

For more information about lottery games and how to play, 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 $7.3 billion and returned more than $1.3 billion for scholarships to benefit Arkansas students. More than 770,000 college scholarships distributed by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education have been awarded to Arkansans. The lottery has awarded more than $5 billion in prizes to players, more than $416 million in retailer commissions, and provided more than $176 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.