‘If you don’t play, you don’t win,’ SC woman says after becoming a millionaire
Hockey great Wayne Gretzky famously said “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” That sentiment that was echoed by a Midlands woman who recently won a scratch-off lottery game’s seven-figure grand prize, South Carolina Education Lottery officials said Thursday in a news release.
“If you don’t play, you don’t win,” the woman told officials after winning a $2 million jackpot, according to the release.
Embracing that philosophy, the woman went from thinking about buying a lottery game to spending $20 on a Double Up! scratch-off ticket when stopping for gas at the Rainbow Mart on Columbia Avenue in Chapin, officials said.
When she saw that her move paid off, her reaction was succinct.
“Wow!” the woman said.
The woman didn’t offer specific plans for how she will spend the newfound windfall, but officials said that the millionaire now is debt free.
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.
The winner overcame 1,080,000-to-1 odds to win the Double Up! game, according to the release. One of the game’s four top prizes remains unclaimed, officials said.
The Rainbow Mart in Chapin received a commission of $20,000 for selling the claimed ticket.
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