An unexpected lottery win turned one player’s challenging week around for the better.

D. Hernandez of Missouri City, TX, won $100,000 playing the Mega Bucks instant game. She claimed her prize at the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery Claim Center on Aug. 14.

The $5 winning ticket was sold at Jordan’s Kwik Stop #45, located at 1695 N. Center St. in Lonoke.

Hernandez was working in Arkansas when she bought the winning ticket, at the time facing a streak of bad luck. Between recently receiving some difficult news and stumbling across a broken mirror, Hernandez feared seven years of even worse fortune. Unbeknownst to Hernandez, fate had something entirely different in store: her biggest instant prize yet.

During a brief gas station trip, Hernandez, an infrequent lottery player, decided to take a chance and buy a few scratch-off tickets.

“Something told me to try it,” she told lottery officials.

After winning $30 on her first tickets, she used those winnings to purchase four more $5 games. To her astonishment, one of these tickets held a $100,000 top prize.

Overjoyed and emotional, the lucky winner shared the news with her boss, sister-in-law and mother. With her prize, Hernandez plans to take care of her daughter and buy a home.

“Taking care of my baby is my number one priority,” Hernandez said.

One top prize worth $100,000 remains on the Mega Bucks instant game.

Another lucky lottery player could win big with the next Powerball® drawing. The jackpot is $605 million for tonight, Aug. 18, and marks the biggest advertised Powerball jackpot in more than a year.

Tickets cost $2 per play, and ticket sales cut off at 8:59 p.m. the night of the drawing. Players can also purchase the Power Play® multiplier for an additional $1, which will multiply their non-jackpot winnings by 2, 3, 4, 5 or 10 times.

Powerball tickets are available for purchase at licensed Arkansas lottery retailers and through retailer apps from ASL’s Play on the Go partners. For more information about the Play on the Go options, visit the Where To Play page on the ASL website.

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 $8 billion and returned more than $1.5 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 $5.5 billion in prizes to players, more than $456 million in retailer commissions, and provided more than $187 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.