An avid Arkansas lottery player landed his biggest win when he least expected it.

Paragould resident Timothy Augustyniak won $50,000 playing $50,000 Frenzy, a $20 instant game. He claimed his prize at the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery Claim Center on May 21.

The winning ticket was sold at Kum & Go #349, 3400 Linwood Drive in Paragould.

Timothy bought the winning instant ticket while driving his wife to her birthday dinner. The Paragould man had briefly stopped for gas and wanted to try his luck with $50,000 Frenzy. A frequent lottery player, Timothy always dreamed of landing a big lottery prize. However, he was more focused on other matters that evening.

“I was thinking about dinner!” Timothy told lottery officials. “I’m always expecting to win the big one, but this time, I wasn’t even thinking about it.”

The player insisted he would have been happy to win $100. Unbeknownst to him, a much bigger prize was just around the corner.

Timothy scratched his ticket while still in the store. He paused halfway through the second row when he noticed one of the play spots held a $50,000 top prize.

“I get down to the middle, and I go, ‘No way!’” Timothy said.

Excited, he returned to the car to show his wife. In her disbelief, she sent him back inside the store to scan the ticket and verify the win. Sure enough, Timothy had indeed won $50,000.

“This is the biggest prize of my life,” Timothy said. “It happened!”

Previously, his largest prize was $1,000.

The lucky winner plans to take a family trip with his prize. Timothy also intends to continue playing lottery games, telling lottery officials that he’s happy to support scholarships for Arkansas students.

Forty-nine top prizes worth $50,000 each 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 $7.9 billion and returned more than $1.4 billion for scholarships to benefit Arkansas students. More than 822,000 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 $449 million in retailer commissions, and provided more than $186 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.