After winning $1 million jackpot, SC woman captures another lottery game’s grand prize
A South Carolina woman has won a major lottery jackpot — for the second time.
Almost two years after winning $1 million, the Midlands woman won another game’s grand prize, South Carolina Education Lottery officials said Thursday in a news release.
This time, the woman captured $300,000 on a scratch-off lottery ticket, according to the release.
And just as she had in her first big win, the woman bought the six-figure winning game at the same convenience store in Columbia, officials said.
The winning scratch-off ticket was purchased at the King Fuel gas station/convenience store on Two Notch Road, according to the release. That’s in the area between Interstate 77 and Interstate 20.
She told officials that the $1 million win was the “biggest surprise of my life,” but said the second win was even more unexpected.
It happened exactly like it did the first time.
She stopped at the convenience store on her way to work, which she continued even after her first big lottery win, officials said.
She bought a scratch-off ticket for $10, according to the release. Sitting at her desk at work, the woman started scratching and revealed the new game’s top prize then slipped the ticket into her purse, officials said.
“I started dancing around my office,” she said. “It was a thrill.”
But this time, she didn’t take her lunch break early to go cash in the ticket, according to the release. Instead, she waited until the next morning, so she could show the ticket to the clerk that sold it to her, officials said.
The woman didn’t reveal any plans she has for the newfound windfall. In fact, she’s trying to keep her latest lottery jackpot a secret, even from her co-workers who saw her celebrating the most-recent win.
The winner will be allowed to retain some privacy, as South Carolina is one of 11 states — along with Arizona, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Texas and Virginia — that allow lottery winners to remain anonymous.
“I’m going for three,” she joked.
The odds of winning the top prize in the $300,000 Gold Rush game were 1-in-700,000, according to the release. Two of the game’s six top prize-winning tickets remain unclaimed, officials said.
Owners of the the King Fuel received a commission of $3,000 for selling the claimed ticket, according to the release.
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