Friends share $50,000 Powerball prize after winning ticket sold in Myrtle Beach

Two South Carolina friends got a taste of the $1.5 billion jackpot when they won $50,000 by matching most of the winning numbers after buying a ticket at a Myrtle Beach store.

“I was one number away from clearing the calendar for the rest of my life,” one of the winners told lottery officials.

The two have been friends for 30 years and text each other copies of the tickets they buy because one lives in Charleston and the other resides in Greenville.

And last week a text message read: “Dude, I think we won.”

Their winning ticket matched all but one number.

“This was just practice,” they said, and they’ll continue to chase the big jackpot and share the winnings 50-50, according to a news release. Lottery officials did not release the names of the winners.

The winning ticket was sold at the Tiger Mart at 6928 N. Kings Hwy., which received a $500 commission for selling the claimed ticket, officials said.

Odds of winning $50,000 by matching four white ball numbers and the red Powerball number are 1 in 913,129, according to the release.

The estimated jackpot for Saturday night’s drawing is $60 million.

This story was originally published January 21, 2016 at 10:59 AM with the headline "Friends share $50,000 Powerball prize after winning ticket sold in Myrtle Beach."