MALVERN, Ark. (KFSM) — One Arkansas woman is celebrating her birthday with an extra $10,000 thanks to a recent lottery win.
Vallerie Ahart purchased a lottery $10 scratch-off game at an Exxon convenient store in Hot Springs Sunday (Jan. 12).
“I play the lottery a couple of times a week and purchased a ticket on my way home,” Ahart said. “I decided to buy a $10 ticket for the first time and noticed it was number 3 on the roll of tickets, which is my lucky number.”
She says she immediately started to scratch her ticket and as soon as she so it, she didn’t believe her eyes.
“That was too easy,” was her first thought when she realized she had a winning ticket.
“I confirmed the win with the retailer and started screaming with excitement in the store,” Ahart said. “Everyone started looking at me, but I didn’t care. I’m still trying to wrap my head around this win! This is awesome!”
She says she plans to make a down payment on a new home and also plans to buy new cowboy boots with her winnings.
“I’m celebrating my birthday all week, and I am starting as soon as I leave this Claim Center,” Ahart said.
The $10,000 Stacked game launched in December of last year. More than $9 million in prizes still remain on the $10 ticket, including 162 more top prizes of $10,000.
More than 92 cents of every dollar of Lottery revenue goes to prizes, scholarships, retailer commissions, and other expenses in Arkansas. Since 2009, the Lottery has provided more than $914 million for more than 542,000 college scholarships, more than $3 billion in prizes to players, about $266 million in retailer commissions, and more than $130 million state and federal tax revenue.
