‘It’s more money than I have ever seen,’ man says of winning SC lottery game
Neither a Columbia man nor his wife said they believed it when they each separately learned that their ticket was selected in a drawing by South Carolina Education Lottery officials and they’d won a $1 million jackpot.
“I thought it was a joke,” he told officials when they informed him that he’d just won the seven-figure prize in a second-chance drawing.
When the man tried telling his wife they’d just won a million dollars she also reacted with disbelief, officials said Thursday in a news release.
“What?” she said to learning she might have become a millionaire when walking through her door. “Oh, come on.”
The couple ultimately believed it when they left the Lottery’s Claims Center in downtown Columbia with a check for their $1 million prize, according to the release.
The couple hit the jackpot in April when their lottery ticket was selected from the more than 1.3 million entries received in the Royal Millions Second-Chance Promotion, officials said. The promotion allowed players to enter their winning and non-winning Royal Millions scratch-off games for a chance to win $1,000,000, according to the release.
“It’s unbelievable,” the winner told lottery officials. “It’s more money than I have ever seen in my life.”
The couple did not say how they plan to spend their newfound windfall.
The winner will be 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.
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This story was originally published May 1, 2025 at 2:08 PM with the headline "‘It’s more money than I have ever seen,’ man says of winning SC lottery game."
