Arkansas man follows a ‘hunch’ to $100,000 lottery prize

Jan. 20 (UPI) — An Arkansas man followed a “hunch” and bought a scratch-off lottery ticket that ended up earning him a $100,000 top prize.

Tontitown resident Thomas McCawley told Arkansas Scholarship Lottery officials he stopped at the Tontitown Z-Mart store on his way back from lunch on a recent day and decided to buy a lottery ticket.

McCawley, who frequently buys $5 scratch-off lottery tickets, said he was drawn to the Fiery 5’s game.

“I just had a hunch,” McCawley said. “I guess you could say it just spoke to me.”

The player said he was shocked when the very first row revealed a $100,000 prize.

“This can’t be real,” he recalled thinking. “It was really hard to go back to work after that.”

McCawley said some of his winnings will go toward buying a wheelchair-accessible vehicle for his mother-in-law.