Arkansas Man Wins Big, Plans to Buy First Home for Family of 7

Little Rock, Ark.—A Clarksville man and his family of seven are plenty happy after winning $70,000 (does anyone want to guess what their lucky number might be?) in the Arkansas Lottery.

Neil Smith typically buys $1 or $2 lottery tickets, but on this fateful day, he decided to instead purchase a $3 scratch-off game, Win 10X. He purchased the ticket on February 10 from Tobacco Town in Clarksville.

And it’s a good thing he did!

Clarksville Resident Takes a Chance, Wins Big

Smith explained his decision to purchase a different ticket than his usual fare, saying, “I usually buy the $1 or $2 tickets, but I just sold a washing machine and decided to treat myself with a couple of lottery tickets for entertainment.”

Not only did he purchase one $3 ticket, but he purchased four of them. The first two tickets that he scratched off were not winners, but the third one certainly was, netting him the top prize. He didn’t quite believe it at first.

“Holy cow! Now, that’s a winner,” was Smith’s first thought. “I ran into the store to check the ticket to make sure my eyes weren’t playing some cruel joke on me. I scanned it on the ticket checker about ten times.”

He was so excited over winning that his wife ended up being the one to scratch the fourth ticket because, by that point, it didn’t even matter to him since he’d already won. Who wouldn’t be happy at the chance to get a little debt relief or the opportunity to splurge a little?

What He Plans to Do With His Winnings

When questioned about what he planned to do with his newfound wealth, Smith said, “I always dreamed of owning a home for my family of seven.”

“My family has had the worst luck with landlords. I went back to my vehicle and told my wife that we could finally make a down payment on a house,” he continued.

Smith said his wife’s face got red after he suggested it, and they both ended up teary-eyed. “That’s when she told me that we didn’t win on the last ticket,” Smith chuckled in recollection.