Michael and Carrie Middlebrook of Bono have won a $1 million prize (less about a third for taxes) on a $20 $1 Million Spectacular ticket from the Arkansas Lottery.
CORRECTION: I inadvertently mangled the family’s last name in the original version.
Carrie Middlebrook bought it Tuesday at Jordan’s Kwik Stop in Bono, getting a $20 ticket by mistake when she’d intended to get a $2 scratch off. Said a lottery release:
Carrie said the three-mile drive to her home seemed like 300. She called her husband, who was cooking dinner, and asked him to come outside.
“When I opened Carrie’s car door, she was crying and shaking. I thought she had hit a deer!” Mike laughed. “I looked at the ticket and couldn’t believe it.”
Mike finished cooking, but the couple couldn’t eat they were so overwhelmed. And they had trouble sleeping that night, too. Before today, they had only told a select few about their win – “only ones we knew wouldn’t ask for money,” they said.
They plan to pay off their house and vehicles and put a big part of the prize money back for retirement. The Middlebrooks have been married for 20 years and both work in Jonesboro.
Jordan’s Kwik Stop will receive a 1 percent commission of $10,000 for selling the winning ticket.