Columbia woman wins $200,000 prize in education lottery

A Columbia woman was filling up her car at the Circle K on Parklane Road when she scratched a lottery ticket at the gas pumps and won $200,000, the South Carolina Education Lottery said in a Thursday news release.

“It was just a normal day,” the woman told lottery officials. “I needed gas for my car, and I had an extra $5.”

The winner, who declined to release her name, said when she saw the six-figure win, “the best way to describe it [was] disbelief.”

She is saving the prize money for her children’s education, she said.

The odds of winning that amount in the Money Money Money game are 1-in-870,000, officials said. One top prize remains in the game.

The Circle K location received a commission of $2,000 for selling the claimed ticket.

Riley Edenbeck

The State

Riley Edenbeck is a reporting intern for The State newspaper. She is from Chicago and now travels between Columbia and Charleston. She is a master’s student at the University of South Carolina studying data and communication, and she graduated from the USC journalism school in 2024. She has reported for National Mortgage News in New York City, won awards for her coverage at the Carolina News and Reporter, and was a managing editor of The Daily Gamecock.