Feeling lucky? SC man said he did before buying a winning lottery game in Columbia
A Columbia man said he had a feeling he was going to win big when he recently bought a lottery ticket.
He had good intuition. The man won a $300,000 jackpot on the scratch-off game he bought at a downtown convenience store, South Carolina Education Lottery officials said Thursday in a news release.
After buying the ticket, the man scratched it while walking to his car, according to the release. He turned around and went back inside to scan the game on the store’s ticket checker to be certain his eyes weren’t deceiving him and he really won the top prize, officials said.
In spite of the excitement of the moment, the man claimed he kept his composure.
“I was surprisingly calm,” he told lottery officials.
The man’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.
He bought the winning scratch-off ticket for $10 at the Shiv Food Mart at 831 Harden St. in Columbia, lottery officials said. That’s in Five Points, a few blocks from the intersection with Gervais Street.
The winner said he plans to spend his newfound fortune by using it on his children’s education, according to the release.
“I’m going to fund my kid’s college funds and save a lot,” he said.
Lottery officials said the odds of winning the top prize in the Carolina Bonus Cash game were 1-in-668,571.43. Three top prizes remain in the game, according to lottery officials.
The Shiv Food Mart received a commission of $3,000 for selling the claimed winning ticket, according to the release.
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