An Arkansan recently won a lottery prize with a rare ticket purchase.

F. Roberts of Little Rock won $20,000 in the May 21 Mega Millions® drawing. He claimed his prize at the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery Claim Center on May 22.

The winning Quick Pick ticket was ordered online on Lotto.com. The winning numbers for the May 21 drawing were 2, 5, 8, 28 and 69, with the Megaball® being 14. The multiplier was 2.

Roberts and his wife never play the lottery. However, an Instagram ad for Tuesday night’s $421 million Mega Millions jackpot piqued his interest. He initially ignored it, having no cash on-hand to buy a ticket at a physical retailer. When he saw the same ad a second time, he decided to order a ticket online.

Lotto.com, which boasts over 1.9 million customers, is currently available in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oregon, New Jersey, New York, and Texas and offers digital access to order official state lottery tickets.

Roberts woke up the next morning and checked the draw results. He had matched four out of five winning numbers and the Megaball number, earning a $10,000 prize. Because he purchased his ticket with the Megaplier®, his winnings doubled to $20,000.

At first, Roberts could not quite believe his luck. He checked several sites to ensure he had avoided making a mistake, but his emotions fluctuated between nervousness, excitement, and uncertainty.

“I’m pretty sure this is a winner, but I need to check again,” he said.

But the Little Rock man had indeed won the $20,000 prize. He casually shared the news with his wife as she prepared for the day.

The woman was stunned; she was unaware he had bought a ticket in the first place.

“It just felt kind of surreal,” she said. “Like, ‘Does that happen to people? Does that happen to us?’ Surely there’s a catch.”

Excited, the pair visited the claim center shortly after discovering the win.

So far, Roberts has only told some family members and his best friend about the win, while his wife has limited the news to their dog.

The duo plans to meet with a financial advisor to save and invest their winnings. They have also considered using $10 of their prize to play another lottery game.

The overall Mega Millions jackpot has yet to be hit. The jackpot rises to $453 million ahead of Friday night’s drawing.

For more information on how to play, visit MyArkansasLottery.com. For more information on Lotto.com, visit www.Lotto.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 720,000 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 and 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.

About Lotto.com Inc.
Headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, Lotto.com is the first digital platform for ordering official state lottery draw and scratch games on both mobile and web-based platforms. As a lottery courier enabling user participation in the U.S. State Lotteries, Lotto.com helps the lottery contribute incremental funds to state-run programs across education, parks, emergency responders, veterans' health and other important services. Lotto.com has over 1.9 million customers, has contributed over $80 Million to state-funded lottery initiatives, and has created 6 millionaires via state-run games, including the largest Digital Scratch ticket win in history - $3 Million to a customer in Colorado. In June 2023, Lotto.com introduced the first-to-market Digital Scratch tickets, which are currently available in Colorado, Nebraska, Ohio, Oregon and Texas. Lotto.com is currently available in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon and Texas, with plans to expand to additional states in the near future.