‘I almost gave up playing them.’ SC man uses family birthdays to score big lottery win
A South Carolina man almost stopped playing his go-to lottery numbers — but those picks ended up paying off big time.
The Lowcountry man scored a $200,000 prize after using family birthdays as inspiration for his picks in the Palmetto Cash 5 game, the S.C. Education Lottery said Thursday.
The man — who declined to be identified publicly — said he had been playing the same numbers for two years before he recently thought about changing his routine.
“I almost gave up playing them,” the winner said.
But the man stuck with his tradition, and his luck eventually took a turn at the A Plus store in North Charleston. That’s where he spent $2 on a ticket for the March 21 drawing, according to the S.C. Education Lottery.
The man was watching an NCAA basketball tournament game, officials said, when he saw lottery results appear on the screen.
“Hold on,” he said as he pressed the rewind button.
It turns out, the man’s family birthdays matched all numbers in the drawing, beating 1-in-878,399 odds. He kept $138,000 after taxes, according to lottery spokesperson Holli Armstrong.
Now, the recent winner plans to keep using his “lucky numbers,” officials said.
“You never know, it might happen again,” he told the lottery.
It’s not the first time numbers inspired by relatives spurred a big windfall.
In February, officials said a North Carolina man hit the jackpot after a decade of playing the lottery with his loved one’s birthdays.
Also in North Carolina, a woman used numbers from her late grandmother to score a top lottery prize, McClatchy News reported in January.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREWhen gambling is more than a game
Gambling is designed to be a source of entertainment.
If you or a loved one shows signs of gambling addiction, you can seek help by calling the national gambling hotline at 1-800-522-4700 or visiting the National Council on Problem Gambling website.
This story was originally published April 9, 2021 at 1:07 PM.
