Columbia woman says she only won lottery jackpot because her friends were playing
A Columbia woman is a quarter of a million dollars richer after winning the top prize in a South Carolina Education Lottery game.
And she has her friends to thank for her $250,000 windfall, lottery officials said Friday in a news release.
They didn’t buy her the scratch-off lottery game, but when she saw her friends buying tickets the Columbia woman decided to take a chance of her own, according to the release.
“My mind was blown,” the woman told lottery officials. “I was lucky.”
The woman was not publicly identified because South Carolina is one of just a few states — along with Delaware, Kansas, Georgia, Maryland, North Dakota, Ohio and Texas — that allows lottery winners to remain anonymous.
She won the jackpot on a $10 Maximum Money scratch-off game, which she bought at at the Piney Xpress store on Piney Woods Road in Columbia, according to the release.
Lottery officials said the woman overcame 780,000-to-1 odds to win, and claim the Maximum Money game’s last top prize.
With her six-figure winnings, the woman said she’s in the market for a new home, according to the release.
Piney Xpress, which is near Exit 104 on Interstate 26, received a commission of $2,500 for selling the winning game, lottery officials said.
This was a busy week for the South Carolina Education Lottery, as a $2 million-winning Mega Millions ticket was sold in Aiken, while an Upstate man won $2 million playing Powerball.
This story was originally published June 14, 2020 at 9:46 AM with the headline "Columbia woman says she only won lottery jackpot because her friends were playing."
