Last-minute choice leads to big SC lottery win. ‘Something told me to grab that ticket’

A South Carolina lottery player made a last-minute decision — and it paid off big time.

The man went inside a Charleston-area store with plans to play one lottery game. But he changed his mind when he stumbled upon another ticket, officials said.

“Something told me to grab that ticket instead,” he said in an Oct. 3 news release from the S.C. Education Lottery.

The man bought the other ticket, which he later realized was worth $200,000. He said the unexpected six-figure prize left him with a simple reaction: “Whoa.”

The man celebrated the lucky moment after buying the winning ticket at a Circle K in Mount Pleasant. While at the convenience store’s location on U.S. Highway 17, he spent $5 on a ticket for the Power Play game, according to officials.

It turns out, the ticket beat 1-in-660,000 odds to win big. But the lucky winner said he won’t spend his prize money any time soon.

“I’m going to save it for now,” he told lottery officials.

The S.C. Education Lottery in its news release didn’t reveal the winner’s name or how much money he kept after taxes. Officials didn’t immediately share additional information with McClatchy News on Oct. 4.

It’s not the first time a last-minute choice made a lottery player much richer.

One North Carolina man won $1 million after making a “spur-of-the-moment decision” to play a scratch-off game, while another man suddenly decided to buy a ticket that scored him a jackpot prize, McClatchy News reported.

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