SC man wastes no time cashing in lottery ticket after seeing he won six-digit jackpot

A Midlands man didn’t waste any time cashing in a winning lottery ticket, collecting his six-figure prize minutes after learning he’d uncovered a jackpot.

When you win $300,000 on a scratch-off game, like this man did, collecting your winnings isn’t as simple as bringing it back to the store where you bought the lottery ticket. A trip to the Lottery’s Claims Center on Assembly Street in Columbia is required.

It took less than 10 minutes for the winner to make the five-mile drive from the City Food Mart on North Main Street to the claims center to get his money, South Carolina Education Lottery officials said in a news release.

The winner acted quickly despite being stunned to see he had won such a big prize on the $300,000 Fun Fortune ticket he bought for $10, according to the release.

“I was surprised,” he said.

The man’s name has not been released because South Carolina is one of eight states — along with Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, North Dakota, Ohio and Texas — that allow lottery winners to remain anonymous.

The man didn’t specify how he plans to spend his windfall, but told lottery officials it will be used “on a few repairs,” and he’ll invest the rest.

Lottery officials said the odds of winning the top prize in the $300,000 Fortune Fun game are one in 900,000, and five of the six top prizes in the scratch-off remain unclaimed.

The convenience store received a commission of $3,000 for selling the claimed winning ticket, according to the release.