A South Carolina man narrowly missed the billion-dollar Powerball top prize but matched enough numbers to walk away with a seven-figure jackpot, South Carolina Education Lottery officials said.
The North Augusta resident said it was a shock when he learned he had won a $1 million consolation prize, according to a news release.
The man was initially unaware of his price when he initially had his ticket scanned after purchasing it at the Quik Trip gas station/convenience store at 930 Edgefield Road in North Augusta, the release said. That’s near Exit 5 on a stretch of Interstate 20 that runs through Aiken County.
The scanner simply sent a message saying “See the Lottery” but did not tell him his prize, officials said.
At the Lottery’s Claims Center in Columbia, staff allowed him to watch while his ticket was checked, the news release said. At first he thought he saw a $1,000 win, but then he noticed there were six zeros instead of three, officials said.
“I was stunned,” he said in the release.
He missed winning a $1 billion jackpot by one digit in the April 3 drawing because his ticket matched all five white ball numbers but missed the red Powerball number, officials said.
The winning numbers from that draw were 11, 38, 41, 62, 65 and Powerball: 15.
The odds of matching all five white ball numbers and winning a $1 million Powerball jackpot are 1 in 11,688,054, according to the publication.
The man did not reveal his plans for spending his new windfall, saying only: “It’s enough for me to retire and be happy.”
The winner is 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 – where lottery winners can remain anonymous. .
The Quik Trip received a $10,000 commission for the sale of the claimed winning ticket, lottery officials said.
The next Powerball drawing will take place Monday night, when a top prize of $131 million is at stake.
The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 293 million.
