A Houston resident just turned a scratch ticket into a seven-figure payday, claiming a $1 million top prize on the Texas Lottery's Queen of Spades game, lottery officials confirmed Wednesday. The big winner bought the lucky ticket in Humble, trimming the already short list of remaining top prizes for the game.
According to the Texas Lottery, the ticket was sold at Mr. Express at the intersection of the Eastex Freeway and Will Clayton Parkway in Humble. The winner is being identified only as a Houston resident, a common move to preserve some privacy after a windfall. That detail was first reported by local station CW39.
Game totals, odds and remaining top prizes
The Queen of Spades is a $20 scratch-off with overall odds of 1 in 3.88 and more than $91.6 million in total prizes, according to the Texas Lottery. The prize table lists four $1,000,000 top prizes for the game, two of which have now been claimed. That leaves two $1 million tickets still out there somewhere.
Retailer bonus
The payday does not stop with the player. Under Texas Lottery rules, the owner of Mr. Express that sold the winning ticket is eligible for a $10,000 retailer bonus, the station reported. These bonuses are standard whenever a top-prize scratch ticket is sold and are meant to reward the shops that move big winners through their counters.
How to claim a $1 million prize
For anyone lucky enough to hit a $1,000,000 scratch prize, the first step is simple but crucial: sign the ticket. After that, winners must bring the ticket to a Texas Lottery claim center or mail the signed ticket along with a completed claim form. Prizes between $1 million and $2.5 million can be redeemed at local claim centers or at Texas Lottery headquarters in Austin, according to the agency's claim guidance on the Texas Lottery website. The lottery handles the necessary IRS paperwork and will withhold federal income tax when required.
For Houston-area players, this latest win is a nudge to sign tickets, stash them somewhere safe and actually check them. Small neighborhood stores that sell winning tickets often see a short-lived bump in traffic from hopeful customers chasing the same luck. With the Queen of Spades game still holding unclaimed prizes, local scratch-off fans might want to sift through glove boxes, junk drawers and old coat pockets one more time.
