He bought a SC lottery ticket during a bathroom break — then came a sleepless night

Simone Jasper
·2 min read

A South Carolina man was stopping at a gas station to use the bathroom when he bought a lottery ticket that paid off big time.

While at the business, he first tried his luck on scratch-offs that won him $20. When he went back inside to cash in on that prize, he bought another ticket that was worth $200,000, according to the S.C. Education Lottery.

“My heart dropped,” the man said, recalling the moment he checked his latest winning ticket. “I jumped out of the car and threw the ticket on the store counter and asked them to scan it to be sure.”

The prize was the real deal, and the winner said he had trouble sleeping that night. He was shaking when he claimed his prize, which totaled $138,000 after taxes, lottery spokesperson Holli Armstrong told McClatchy News in an email.

The man — who declined to be publicly identified — took home the extra cash after he switched up his routine.

“I usually stop at the store across the street, but it was busy after a Clemson game,” he told officials in a Jan. 25 news release.

A South Carolina man won a big prize after trying his luck on a scratch-off ticket, officials said.
A South Carolina man won a big prize after trying his luck on a scratch-off ticket, officials said.

The man ended up making a pit stop at Xpress Fuel in Pendleton, near the university and roughly 35 miles southwest of Greenville. While at the gas station, he picked up a soda and the scratch-offs that were worth $20.

The winner later snagged more tickets, spending $5 on the one that beat 1-in-750,000 odds to hit the jackpot. After scoring the big win in the Triple Red 777s game, the man said he and his wife bought a car and hope to remodel their house.

“On a whim I bought that ticket,” he told the S.C. Education Lottery. “Now we’re getting to do some stuff we’ve always wanted to do.”

It’s not the first time a spur-of-the-moment decision led to a windfall.

In February, officials said a man buying a candy bar suddenly decided to buy a lottery ticket and won a South Carolina prize.

And early in the coronavirus pandemic, a North Carolina man randomly played a lottery game online and got a big surprise, McClatchy News reported in April 2020.

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest Stories

  • Flight attendant indicted in attempt to record teen girl in airplane bathroom

    An American Airlines flight attendant was indicted Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September. Police have also alleged that Estes Carter Thompson III, 36, of Charlotte, North Carolina, had recordings of four other girls using lavatories on an aircraft where he worked. Thompson was indicted on one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of images of child sexual abuse depicting a prepubescent minor.

  • 2024 Hot Docs 'An Unfinished Journey': 4 women leaders who fled Afghanistan fighting against gender apartheid

    An Unfinished Journey part of the 2024 Hot Docs Festival documents four women who resettled in Canada After the 2021 Taliban take over in Afghanistan.

  • Ignace voting on potential nuclear waste facility

    IGNACE — Residents and property owners began voting just after midnight Friday on whether they support Ignace moving forward as a potential host community for a nuclear waste repository. Online and in-person, individuals aged 16 and over may cast a ballot on whether the township should “continue participating in the process.” A consulting firm will use the results as data for a report to Ignace council on the degree of “community willingness.” Laura Tanguay, a doctoral candidate in environmental

  • Caleb Williams Shows Off His Style at NFL Draft: ‘I Paint My Nails, I Wear Unique Things’

    The top overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft described his look for the big night as "subtle" and "classy"

  • Austin says Patriot missile system may not be 'silver bullet' for Ukraine's defense

    At a press conference on Friday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin responded to a question about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's desire for more Patriot missile systems to defend against Russia's invasion. Austin said that Ukraine needs other systems as well and cautioned against focusing on the Patriot missile system as a "silver bullet" for the country's defense.

  • Cap on plastic production may be too complicated for global treaty: Guilbeault

    OTTAWA — A global treaty to end plastic waste can be ambitious and successful without firm caps on plastic production, which are hard to design and harder to get agreement on, Canada's environment minister said Friday. Negotiators from 175 nations are in Ottawa trying to solidify some of the details of such a treaty, which is supposed to be finalized this fall in Korea. A cap on plastics is among the most contentious items on the table. Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said there's a need

  • Animal groups are urging tourists not to visit Wyoming after a man hit a wolf then took it to a bar

    CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — As Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming opens for the busy summer season, wildlife advocates are leading a call for a boycott of the conservative ranching state over laws that give people wide leeway to kill gray wolves with little oversight. The social media accounts of Wyoming's tourism agency are being flooded with comments urging people to steer clear of the Cowboy State amid accusations that a man struck a wolf with a snowmobile, taped its mouth shut and showed off the

  • Reform UK deputy leader Habib ‘saddened by split within political unionism’

    Ben Habib was speaking at an event in Co Down alongside Ann Widdecombe and Baroness Hoey.

  • Oregon State and Washington State face player exodus amid realignment

    Perhaps the biggest blow for Oregon State in recent weeks was the departure of running back Damien Martinez, who had previously pledged his loyalty to the Beavers. Twelve players from Washington State's men's basketball team that went to the NCAA Tournament this past season for the first time since 2008 have entered the portal.

  • Cash couriers who smuggled £100million out of UK in suitcases sentenced

    Gang used WhatApp group called ‘Sunshine and lollipops’ to co-ordinate money laundering between the UK and Dubai

  • Atikokan culvert replacement weeks away from completion

    ATIKOKAN – The Mercury Avenue culvert is almost fully repaired. The Town of Atikokan declared a state of emergency last May after a storm caused the culvert’s failure and washed out a 15-metre section of roadway. “This declaration empowers the municipality to take swift and decisive action to protect public safety and allocate the necessary resources to address the situation,” the announcement stated. Nearly one year later, the new culvert’s installation is all but completed and Mercury Avenue i

  • More Indigenous content among changes to Alberta's draft K-6 social studies curriculum

    The latest draft of Alberta's elementary school social studies curriculum is out, with revisions that integrate more Indigenous perspectives and a focus on critical thinking.The third iteration of kindergarten to Grade 6 social studies content comes after the province took the curriculum back to the drawing board in the wake of backlash over a 2021 draft, with critics saying it was age-inappropriate and culturally exclusive.The government subsequently did a new round of consultations with the pu

  • JPMorgan's Dimon hopes for soft landing for US economy but says stagflation is a possible scenario

    NEW YORK (AP) — JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon says he’s hopeful the Federal Reserve can bring down inflation without causing a recession but wouldn’t rule out more troubling possibilities, such as stagflation. In an interview with The Associated Press at a Chase branch opening in The Bronx, Dimon said he remained “cautious” about the U.S. economy and said inflation may be stickier for longer and that “stagflation is on the list of possible things” that could happen to the U.S. economy. “You sho

  • Hollyoaks teases Carter downfall ahead of dramatic week

    Hollyoaks teased a dramatic downfall for Carter Shepherd after he was exposed ahead of the village’s Pride Festival.

  • OJ Simpson’s official cause of death revealed

    The disgraced former NFL star previously revealed he had been diagnosed with an unspecified form of cancer last year

  • She called 911 to report abuse then disappeared: 5 months later her family's still searching

    She called 911 3 times on her partner, then disappeared. As he awaits trial, a family's desperate search for their daughter nears its fifth month.

  • Blue envelopes: Arizona launching program to help keep autistic drivers safer

    Arizona is launching a 'blue envelope' program that is aimed at helping autistic drivers better navigate what to do when being contacted by an officer.

  • UPDATE 1-Google files motion for summary judgment in U.S. ad tech case

    Alphabet Inc's Google on Friday asked a federal court in Virginia to reject a U.S. government lawsuit accusing the advertising and search company of anticompetitive practices in the online advertising marketplace. The government, which filed the ad tech lawsuit in January 2023 along with eight states, accused the company of abusing its dominance of the digital advertising business and argued that it should be forced to sell its ad manager suite. Google’s online advertising network, which includes ad manager, brought in 12% of the company’s revenue in 2021.

  • Michael Bisping warns Islam Makhachev of ‘sniper’ Leon Edwards: ‘Be careful what you wish for’

    Michael Bisping advises UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev to focus on his division.

  • Cockroaches, meat residue and yellow slime: See latest Sacramento County health inspections

    Sacramento County conducts roughly 14,000 inspections of food facilities each year.