When Stephen Turpen started scratching his lottery ticket Saturday, he thought maybe he’d won $500.
Then he kept scratching and uncovered a comma and three more zeroes, according to the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery. He’d won 1,000 times the amount he’d thought — half a million dollars.
Turpen, of Hot Springs, said in a news release he was “elated” when he realized he’d won big. But the 72-year-old veteran said he kept his cool and didn’t do anything over the top, like jumping up and down.
“I’m just not that kind of guy,” Turpen said in the release. “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 has been going to the Valero at 3371 N. Highway 7 where he bought the winning ticket every morning for years to enjoy coffee with a few other veterans, according to a news release. Turpen said they try to make the store, robbed six years ago, feel safer.
He told the lottery he plans to use the winnings to pay off some debt and then he will save the rest. He may also buy a three-wheel bike, he said.
“But that’s up to momma,” Turpen said, of his wife.
As for the Valero, Turpen told the lottery he was right back there Monday morning, as always. He plans to go back again tomorrow.