Luck was in the air for two Arkansas lottery players as they claimed big prizes on Valentine’s Day.

Harrison resident James White won $50,000 playing $50,000 Frenzy, a $20 instant game. He purchased the winning ticket at White Oak Station Moark #2, 701 N. Main in Harrison.

James plays lottery games for fun, usually aiming to win a breakeven prize. Wanting to play responsibly, he only buys tickets with extra cash or his winnings from other games.

One morning, on his way to do laundry, the Harrison man decided to buy two scratch-off tickets. He won $500 on the first and $50 on the second.

“I thought that would be the end of my luck,” James told lottery officials.

Little did he know that he would soon land his biggest prize yet. Using his $50 winnings, James bought an additional $50,000 Frenzy ticket and scratched it off at home. To his surprise, the last row of his ticket held the game’s $50,000 top prize.

“I stared at it for a couple of minutes,” James told lottery officials.

When the win finally sank in, the lucky winner shared the good news with his best friend.

“What does that mean?” she asked.

“I think it means I won!” James responded.

Since then, the Harrison man has also told his daughter and one other person about his win. He plans to work on his house with his winnings.

Another player, William McAtee from El Paso, also won the $50,000 top prize on $50,000 Frenzy. He bought his winning ticket at El Paso Shell, 1820 Highway 64 W. in El Paso.

William discovered his win while still in the store. The El Paso man plays instant games every other day and has developed a unique play style: he scratches his tickets from right to left. Staying true to his tradition, he began scratching his ticket and was surprised to see a few zeros.

“Whoa, whoa—what in the world do we have going on here?” William thought.

Excited, the player kept scratching and realized he had won $50,000.

“I couldn’t believe it,” William told lottery officials. “I’m just in shock.”

The Arkansan told his youngest daughter about the win first to see her reaction.

“She just started screaming,” William chuckled.

He has also shared the good news with his other children and grandchildren, one of whom remarked that he was acting “kind of normal” for someone who had just won the lottery.

William plans to take care of his kids with his prize.

72 top prizes worth $50,000 remain on the $50,000 Frenzy instant game.

Visit MyArkansasLottery.com for more information about the lottery.

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 $7.8 billion and returned more than $1.4 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 $440 million in retailer commissions, and provided more than $182 million in state and federal tax revenue.

Follow the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery on Facebook, X, formerly known as 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.

James White from Harrison won $50,000 playing $50,000 Frenzy.

El Paso resident William McAtee won $50,000 playing the $50,000 Frenzy instant game.