Hot Springs man wins $500K on Arkansas lottery scratch-off ticket

LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — A Hot Springs man says he had to look at his winning 200X Payout scratch-off ticket about six times before understanding he won half a million dollars, said the lottery news release.

Stephen Turpen, 72, claimed his prize at the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery Claim Center Monday.

Turpen bought the ticket Saturday while buying gas at the Valero/Corner Store located at 3371 N. Hwy. 7 in Hot Springs.

The release says at first, he thought he had won $500.

“Then I scratched off a comma and more zeros. I was elated. I was very happy. But I didn’t jump up and down or anything,” said Turpen, adding, “I’m just not that kind of guy. I walked back into the store and had the clerk scan the ticket. I signed it. Then I took it home and put it in the safe.”

Turpen along with several of his other veteran friends have been having coffee together every morning at that Velero since the store was robbed six years ago.

“It was early one morning, and the older woman who worked there was scared to death,” Turpen said. “We’re just a group of local guys who have coffee together and try to keep the place a little safer.” Turpen added, “No one is gonna mess with a group of veterans.”

The veteran says he’s been a lottery player all his life, primarily playing in Florida when he lived there, but he’s never won an amount this big.

Turpen plans to pay off a little debt and put the rest in savings. But he says his life won’t change too much.

“I may buy a three-wheeler bike,” Turpen says with a wink. “but it’s up to momma,” he said, referencing his wife.

When asked if he plans to have coffee at the Valero Tuesday morning, Turpen said, “Oh yes, I was there this morning, too!”