News writer
You just won $1 million playing Powerball. Life would be so different for you, right?
That's not the case for one big winner in South Carolina, who recently claimed her $1 million Powerball winning ticket at the South Carolina Lottery headquarters.
Not much has changed for this Powerball winner
The new millionaire turned in her winning ticket recently and told lottery officials:
I'm still working. And I'm still playing Powerball.
Playing Powerball is what turned the Rock Hill resident into a winner. She won on the March 16 drawing after matching all five of the white ball numbers on her Quick Pick ticket. She purchased the winning ticket from Quick Stop, located at 275 S. Charlotte Ave. in Rock Hill.
For the March 16 drawing, the five white ball numbers were 12, 23, 44, 57, and 61, and the Powerball number was 35.
“Life is good”
While not much has changed for the $1 million winner, she did tell lottery officials that “life is good” for her. We can't blame her, especially since the odds of winning $1 million in the Powerball are 1 in 11.69 million.
Life is also good for the Quick Stop in Rock Hill. For selling the winning ticket, the store receives a commission of $10,000.
About the South Carolina Education Lottery
The South Carolina Education Lottery helps to raise funds for education programs that help all South Carolinians in the most socially responsible manner. They are committed to increasing education funding while adhering to the highest standards of integrity in the lottery industry.
The first lottery ticket sale in South Carolina took place in January 2002. Since then, the SCEL has transferred $7.8 billion for appropriation by the General Assembly.
While the SCEL isn't responsible for deciding which programs are funded from these lottery proceeds, they have awarded more than 2.5 million scholarships to hardworking South Carolina students since 2002.
For the current fiscal year, more than $600 million has been appropriated for higher education. This gives funding for scholarships, need-based grants, tuition assistance, and the National Guard Loan Repayment Program.
There was also $8.4 million in lottery proceeds that went to educational programs for K-12 students.
Since the lottery began, the 2023 fiscal year had the second-best results the state has seen. This included:
- $2.4 billion in ticket sales
- $1.6 billion in prize winnings to players
- $598.3 million transferred for education
- $169.1 million in commissions earned by retailers.
Of course, some of that sales money goes to operational expenses. The SCEL says they try to keep these numbers low, like their advertising expenses were about 0.43% of gross sales! The operating expenses for the SCEL are among the lowest of any lottery in the country, with annual sales under $4 billion.
Enjoy playing the South Carolina Lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.
