‘I nearly had a heart attack,’ SC man says after winning lottery game’s seven-digit prize
Although it was dark outside, what a Midlands man saw nearly caused him to have a heart attack, he told to South Carolina Education Lottery officials.
Although he said the sight of his $1 million winning lottery ticket originally was almost too much for him to bear, now the Newberry man says he feels great after cashing in his prize, officials said Thursday in a news release.
“It’s a blessing,” the winner said in the release.
What turned out to be the seven-figure winning scratch-off game was sold for $10 at the Pops gas station/convenience store at 1190 Wilson Road in Newberry, officials said.
The man said it was so early when he stopped at the store and bought the $1,000,000 Riches game that the sun hadn’t come up yet, according to the release.
And what was his first reaction to seeing the result that lottery officials said “has changed his life?”
“I nearly had a heart attack,” he said.
The man didn’t reveal his plans for spending his newfound windfall, saying only “it’s going toward retirement.”
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.
The odds of winning the $1 million top prize in the $1,000,000 Riches game were 1-in-1,350,000, according to the release. One of the game’s four top prize-winning tickets remains unclaimed, according to the lottery website.
The Pops store received a commission of $10,000 for selling the claimed ticket, according to the release.
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This story was originally published February 8, 2024 at 3:09 PM with the headline "‘I nearly had a heart attack,’ SC man says after winning lottery game’s seven-digit prize."
