PENDLETON, S.C. — A South Carolina man's decision not to stop at his usual store when he made a pit stop in the Upstate proved fateful, recently, when he ended up leaving with a lot more money.
The South Carolina Education Lottery's latest winner said he stopped at Xpress Fuel on Highway 76 in Pendleton to use the bathroom. He told lottery officials that he usually stops across the street but said that Clemson game crowds made him reconsider.
It wouldn't be the only important decision on a whim he would make that day, however. While on his foray at the other store, he decided to grab a soda and a few lottery tickets.
He soon came back to his car with his wife and started scratching off teh tickets. The first win was $20. So he decided to head back in and buy a few more tickets. He said that's when something amazing happened.
"My heart dropped," he told lottery officials.
He had just won $200,000 on a $5 ticket, something he had trouble believing even after seeing it - especially given the 750,000 to 1 odds of winning.
"I jumped out of the car and threw the ticket on the store counter and asked them to scan it to be sure," he said.
That night, sleep eluded the winner as he awaited his trip to Columbia to claim his prize. Lottery officials, in their statement, said his hands were shaking as he accepted his winnings.
“On a whim, I bought that ticket,” he said. “Now we’re getting to do some stuff we’ve always wanted to do.”
That includes some things that seem to fall on many lottery winners' to-do lists.
He and his wife now have a new car and are drawing up plans for a home remodel. And the store that sold the ticket didn't come out badly at all either. CDTS LLC, which is known to locals by the name Xpress Fuel. It will be receiving a $2,000 commission.
