COLUMBIA, SC (July 31, 2013) – Sunday morning a Bethune man checked his Powerball® ticket and informed his wife she wouldn’t have to go to work the next day.
His $2 ticket matched the first five white ball numbers drawn (9, 23, 40, 53 and 58, PB: 6) to win $1 million. Had the red Powerball® number matched, the jackpot would have been his.
“I scared my wife to death,” he said. “I couldn’t talk, so she thought I was having a heart attack.”
When he finally got the words out that he won the Lottery, she told him to stop his nonsense.
When she realized he wasn’t kidding, her face flushed and stayed that way. Her husband was shaking so bad, he had to shave with his electric razor. They didn’t tell anyone, not even their kids, that Mom and Dad were millionaires.
The winner told lottery officials he’s buying a new car with the winnings and writing surprise checks to his children. Then he’s retiring the lottery numbers he’s played for years, doubting they’ll ever beat odds of 1 in 5 million plus again.
He’ll try out his new numbers in tonight’s $235 million Powerball® jackpot drawing.
The Winners Circle Mini Mart in Bethune received a commission of $10,000 for selling the claimed ticket.
Since the start of the Lottery in 2002, more than one million college scholarships and grants have been awarded to South Carolina’s students. In all, more than $3.1 BILLION has been transferred to support educational programs in the Palmetto State.
# # #
His $2 ticket matched the first five white ball numbers drawn (9, 23, 40, 53 and 58, PB: 6) to win $1 million. Had the red Powerball® number matched, the jackpot would have been his.
“I scared my wife to death,” he said. “I couldn’t talk, so she thought I was having a heart attack.”
When he finally got the words out that he won the Lottery, she told him to stop his nonsense.
When she realized he wasn’t kidding, her face flushed and stayed that way. Her husband was shaking so bad, he had to shave with his electric razor. They didn’t tell anyone, not even their kids, that Mom and Dad were millionaires.
The winner told lottery officials he’s buying a new car with the winnings and writing surprise checks to his children. Then he’s retiring the lottery numbers he’s played for years, doubting they’ll ever beat odds of 1 in 5 million plus again.
He’ll try out his new numbers in tonight’s $235 million Powerball® jackpot drawing.
The Winners Circle Mini Mart in Bethune received a commission of $10,000 for selling the claimed ticket.
Since the start of the Lottery in 2002, more than one million college scholarships and grants have been awarded to South Carolina’s students. In all, more than $3.1 BILLION has been transferred to support educational programs in the Palmetto State.
# # #
2061