Woman wins six-digit lottery jackpot on ticket from Obama gas station in Columbia
The Obama gas station in Columbia has produced another jackpot winning prize, according to the South Carolina Education Lottery.
A Midlands woman recently won $300,000 playing a scratch-off lottery game she bought at the Alhanik LLC, better known as the Obama convenience store/gas station, lottery officials said in a news release.
At first, the woman said she didn’t realize she had revealed the top prize in the $300,000 Riches game, which she bought for $10 at the business at 5831 North Main Street about 1.5 miles from Exit 71 on Interstate 20.
In fact, the woman thought she did something wrong when she scanned the game card on the store’s ticket checker and the message said “Claim at Lottery,” according to the release.
The store was busy, and the winner did not want to draw attention to herself, so she leaned over the counter and asked a clerk at the Obama store for help, officials said. The clerk scratched some more off the ticket before grinning and discretely pointing to the $300,000 prize, according to the release.
“I was so surprised. I put my hand up to my mouth to stay quiet,” the woman said in the release. “I thought I was about to cry.”
The woman’s name was not released because South Carolina is one of eight states — along with Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, North Dakota, Ohio and Texas — that allow lottery winners to remain anonymous.
The winner did not reveal any plans for how she will spend her newfound fortune.
Lottery officials said the odds of winning the jackpot were 1-in-780,000 to claim the final top prize available in the $300,000 Riches game.
The Obama gas station received a commission of $3,000 for selling the winning ticket, according to the release.
The business has a history of selling six-figure lottery-winning prizes.
In less than a year and a half span from 2012 to 2013, the Obama gas station produced three major winning tickets.
In 2012, a $1 million Powerball ticket and a $250,000 Mega Millions ticket were sold at the store, officials said. In 2013, a second $250,000-winning Mega Millions ticket was sold at the business, according to the release.
“We see a lot of people coming in,” Khaled Alhanik, one of the attendants at the family-owned store named after former President Barack Obama, previously told The State. “We consider ourselves to be a lucky store.”
This story was originally published March 21, 2021 at 1:10 PM.
