SC woman left work early to learn the size of winning Powerball ticket’s prize
Days after buying a Powerball ticket, an Upstate woman was on her lunch break when she went to the convenience store where she purchased the game to see if she’d won a prize, according to South Carolina Education Lottery officials.
She had a clerk scan the ticket and learned the Powerball ticket was a winner, but wasn’t told anything about the size of the jackpot, other than it was more than the $500 the Gaffney store could pay, officials said Tuesday in a news release.
So she told her boss she was taking the rest of the day off from work and was making the 100-mile trek to the South Carolina Education Lottery Claims Center in Columbia to find out just how much she had won, according to the release.
It turned out to be worth her time as the woman discovered she had won a $150,000 prize from a Powerball drawing in February, officials said.
Reaction to winning Powerball
“It felt like a dream,” the winner said in the release.
While hard to believe, it wasn’t a total shock as the woman had a notion that she might have won a six-figure prize while en route to Columbia, officials said.
On the way to South Carolina’s capital city, she spoke with family and friends who told her they heard a ticket sold in Gaffney had won $150,000, according to the release. Of course, she wondered if it was hers, officials said.
“When I arrived with the ticket, I was so excited and nervous,” she said.
Lottery staff at the claims center confirmed she was the $150,000 winner, according to the release.
The Powerball ticket that she purchased at the Corner Store gas station/convenience store on Hyatt Street matched all but one number drawn on Feb. 5, officials said.
The winning numbers
The winning numbers in the Feb. 5 drawing were 19, 27, 30, 50, 62 and Powerball: 14.
Because she purchased the Power Play option for an additional dollar, her initial $50,000 prize was tripled the Power Play number was revealed to be 3, officials said.
The odds of matching four white ball numbers and the red Powerball number were 1-in-913,129, according to the release.
Plans for the six-figure prize
The winner said she’s going to use her newfound windfall to do something she never thought she could afford, officials said.
“I’m buying a house,” she said.
The winner is allowed to retain some privacy, as South Carolina is one of 11 states — along with Arizona, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Texas and Virginia — that allow lottery winners to remain anonymous.
For selling the claimed ticket, the Corner Store received a commission of $1,500, according to the release.
The current Powerball jackpot
The jackpot for Wednesday’s Powerball drawing is $113 million, according to the game’s website.
Anyone looking to buy a ticket must make a purchase by 9:59 p.m. Wednesday for the 10:59 p.m. drawing. Tickets are $2, and could cost more with additional options.
The odds of winning Powerball’s grand prize are 1-in-293 million.
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This story was originally published April 15, 2025 at 2:02 PM with the headline "SC woman left work early to learn the size of winning Powerball ticket’s prize."
