A last-minute ticket purchase led to a big jackpot win for one lucky Arkansas lottery player.

A Garland County resident won $1.338 million in the Oct. 15 LOTTO drawing. He claimed his prize at the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery (ASL) Claim Center on Oct. 16.

The winning ticket was sold at Casey’s #4638, located at 6600 Phoenix Ave. in Fort Smith. The winning numbers were 1, 5, 23, 30, 32 and 40, and the Bonus Number was 33.

The winner was working in Fort Smith when he decided to stop by the lottery retailer for his favorite brand of beef jerky and a few draw game tickets. He had his eye on the $625 million jackpot for Friday night’s Mega Millions® drawing, but another draw game caught his attention. The jackpot for LOTTO, an Arkansas-exclusive draw game, was over $1 million for that night’s drawing.

“Is it too late to play?” he asked the clerk.

The clerk assured him that there was still time, and he bought one Quick Pick ticket for Wednesday night, along with tickets for Mega Millions and Lucky for Life. He awoke around 4:30 a.m. on the day after the drawing and checked the official AR Lottery + Club app. To his surprise, the screen read, “Winner—claim at lottery.”

The Garland County man knew he had won big, but he still reviewed all the winning numbers himself to be sure.

When he’d finally assured himself that he really had won the $1.338 million jackpot, the lucky winner couldn’t contain his excitement.

“Heck yeah, my dreams came true!” he exclaimed, jumping.

He first tried to share the good news with his brother, who was still fast asleep. He then texted his sister-in-law; her initial skepticism turned into congratulations when he sent photos of the app’s winner announcement.

The Garland County man plans to invest his winnings in retirement.

“We’re excited to celebrate another jackpot winner,” said ASL Executive Director Sharon Strong. “We are accomplishing exactly what we set out to do with LOTTO: give Arkansas players another chance to win big. Now, we’ve been able to help another Arkansan achieve their dreams.”

The LOTTO jackpot now stands at $266,000 for Wednesday night’s drawing.

Visit MyArkansasLottery.com/LOTTO for more information about LOTTO.

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 $462 million in retailer commissions, and provided more than $188 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.