Employee accused of damaging $7,500 in South Carolina Lottery tickets

One South Carolina man is accused of trying to beat the lottery system by scratching tickets before they were even activated. However, authorities say the alleged scheme only left thousands of dollars in damaged tickets behind. Meanwhile, other players across the state are proving that luck and not tampering can still pay off, with one Powerball winner already celebrating a $100,000 prize and another lucky ticket holder yet to claim a $200,000 win.

Arrest warrant issued

On Tuesday, May 26, 2026, an arrest warrant was issued for 55-year-old James Patrick Gaskins of Chesterfield County. He was charged with attempting to influence the game by coercion, tampering, deception, etc.

Gaskins had been employed at Flash Market, located at 1123 W. Main St. in Chesterfield.

What happened?

While employed at Flash Market, he allegedly opened 20 packs of unactivated South Carolina Lottery scratch-off tickets. Gaskins would then scratch random tickets to find winning ones.

However, since Gaskins tampered with the tickets, all of them are now worthless. The value of the damaged products totaled $7.533.

The South Carolina Education Lottery initially contacted SLED for an investigation. This investigation led to the arrest of Gaskins, whose case will be prosecuted by the 4th Circuit Solicitor's Office.

True Powerball winner

While Gaskins was trying to game the system to find some winners, other lottery players in the state were doing things the right way and coming up big winners.

A lucky Powerball winner in Horry County won $100,000 and is not going to sit on it too long. They told lottery officials, “I'm going to spend it.”

The man won the $100,000 on a Quick Pick ticket purchased at Money Savers Liquors, located on Broad St. in Loris, for the May 13 drawing. The winning white ball numbers for that drawing were 22, 31, 52, 56, and 67, and the Powerball number was 15 with the Power Play being 2X.

The winning ticket matched four of the winning white ball numbers plus the Powerball number to win $50,000. He included the Power Play option, so it doubled his winnings to $100,000.

The lucky winner added:

It's the first time I've won something. I'm going to enjoy it.

For selling the winning ticket, Money Saver Liquors received a $1,000 bonus from the state lottery.

Searching for this winner

While that Powerball winner claimed their prize, another big Powerball winner in South Carolina needs to step forward to claim their prize.

The winning ticket was purchased at Food Lion #2853, located at 15 Farrs Bridge Rd. in Greenville, for the May 27 drawing. The ticket included the Power Play option.

The winning white ball numbers for that drawing were 5, 14, 21, 31, and 51, and the Powerball number was 13. The Power Play was 4X.

The winning ticket matched four of the five white ball numbers and the Powerball number to win $50,000. However, with the 4X Power Play, their winnings jumped to $200,000.

Enjoy playing the South Carolina Lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.