Gurdon man claims first $200K 'Taxes Paid' top prize

Shawn McDaniel
Shawn McDaniel

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Shawn McDaniel of Gurdon didn't have to worry about taxes being deducted from his lottery winnings Monday morning at the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery Claim Center. McDaniel won $289,855 on the lottery's $10 "Taxes Paid" scratch-off ticket.

Last week ASL launched four new scratch-off tickets that pay the entire amount when a player wins the top prize. The lottery is actually increasing the amount of the prize on the "Taxes Paid" tickets, and then paying the taxes so the winner collects the entire prize amount.

"I play the lottery five days a week and was in line behind my friend when I purchased my ticket," McDaniel said. "He also purchased a Taxes Paid ticket, but didn't win. Typically, I just scratch off the bottom and scan the barcode with the ticket checker to see if it's a winner. 

"When the ticket checker told me to file a claim form, I proceeded to scratch off the rest of the ticket since I knew that I had won more than $500.  I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw those six digits!"

McDaniel has been married for seven years to his wife, Hannah. They have two boys Carson and Cole.

"I get the opportunity to be debt free," said McDaniel. "We also have a family vacation planned for this summer in Florida. Now we have extra funds to make it more memorable." He also plans to invest, buy his wife a nice Mother's Day gift and take his friend (the one who purchased the non-winning ticket) turkey hunting out of state.

All non-winning instant tickets launched in March, April and May plus all winning or non-winning POWERBALL tickets from that time period are eligible to enter in the lottery's Spring Cash Giveaway. The promotion ends May 31. The third and final drawing in the promotion will be June 4 when 100 players will win $500 in cash, 50 winners will win $200 each and 40 people will take home $100 in cash. For details on the promotion, go to MyArkansasLottery.com and click on "The Club.

 

About the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery

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 $781 million for more than 302,000 college scholarships, more than $2.8 billion in prizes to players, about $245 million in retailer commissions and more than $124 million state and federal tax revenue.

Visit MyArkansasLottery.com for more information on scholarships, winners, games, odds, promotions and to join The Club for free. To hear winning numbers, call the Winning Numbers Hotline at 501-682-IWON (4966). To get help with problem gambling, contact the National Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-522-4700.

 

-Arkansas Scholarship Lottery

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