"If diligence will win you the jackpot, he's got it."
By Kate Northrop
HACKETT, Ark. — An Arkansas woman says it's thanks to her husband's "diligence" in playing the lottery that he scooped up a $550,000 Natural State Jackpot prize.
An Arkansas woman had nothing but praise for her partner when she figured out he was telling the truth about winning $550,000 in the Arkansas Lottery's Natural State Jackpot (NSJ) game.
A Hackett resident, who told his winning story to Lottery officials anonymously, recalled purchasing his lucky ticket at Hugs and Biscuits on South Main Street in Hackett. He's a daily lottery player who has "won big" in other draw games like Cash 3 and Cash 4. This time, he was eyeing the $550,000 NSJ jackpot.
The player scanned his ticket after the Nov. 4 drawing took place, and his Quick Pick play containing the numbers 10, 17, 18, 26, and 27 came up as a winner. With his experience playing the lottery, he didn't need to be told how much he won to know he had won the jackpot.
The ticket checker told him he would need to visit the Arkansas State Lottery Claim Center in Little Rock to collect his prize. He knew he hit the jackpot, he told Lottery staff, since the NSJ second-tier prize of $300 can be collected at any brick-and-mortar retailer.
"I thought, 'No, no... really? Oh my!'" the winner remembered.
He immediately thought to share the news with his wife and subtly asked if she wanted to take a trip to Little Rock with him. She replied that she had an appointment scheduled for that afternoon and couldn't make it, but when he began to reveal the reason why, that appointment was suddenly not so important anymore.
"Now is not the time to be playing games," she said when he sent her a photo of the winning ticket. "Are you being serious right now?"
She realized the win was very much real, and so they took a trip to the ASL Claim Center together to claim the $550,000 jackpot. She had high praise for her husband while there, remarking about her his persistence and patience.
"If diligence will win you the jackpot, he's got it," she said.
The winner said he plans on saving some of the winnings.
The Natural State Jackpot progressive jackpot currently stands at $95,000 for the next drawing tonight at 8:00 p.m. Central Time. The odds of matching all five numbers to win the jackpot are 1 in 575,757.
All winning numbers, prizes and odds can be found on Lottery Post's Arkansas Lottery Results page right after each drawing.
* Huh? The opposite of diligence is " Laziness." I guess folk like us are not doing enough to win, that's so uplifting.😃
The real truth is that not all of us will win a jackpot.
As such, to suggest that if one plays more and more they will eventually win is not necessarily true.
On the flip side, not playing means that you won't win at all.
Sometimes I think what would I do if I won, one thing that pops out often is that I would be very careful with my choice of words.
"Like any other player out there, I walked into a store, bought a ticket and got lucky. Nothing more, nothing less"
I do not like that word "diligence" as it is used here either. I can see some people thinking they are not spending enough $ or playing often enough.
If a lottery player says something that could be misleading, the lottery does not have to share it. Granted it benefits the lottery here but not a person with a gambling issue.
I didn't like the way she used the word diligence either.
Must have been something she blurted out with very little or no fore thought at all.
It's just one more reason why players need to slow down and think prior to running for the lottery office to claim a big win G5