Lottery player shocked by big win during lunch break in SC. ‘Told my boss to pinch me’

A man’s forgotten item led him to a massive lottery win during his lunch break, South Carolina officials said.

The man went to a Greenville convenience store to buy Powerball tickets, according to an April 9 news release from the South Carolina Education Lottery. He had no clue a $1 million win was in his near future.

“I told my boss to pinch me,” he told officials.

When he got back to his job he realized he hadn’t received his play slips from the cashier, officials said.

When it was time to take his next break, he went back to the store for the play slips and decided to buy two $1,000,000 Money Maker scratch-off tickets, officials said.

“I won $20 and $1 million on them,” he said in the release. “I was in shock. If the clerk had given me my slips, I wouldn’t have had a reason to go back.”

The man doesn’t plan on quitting his job though, instead he’s investing the money into his retirement, lottery officials said.

“It was a fluke,” the winner told officials.

Greenville is about a 100-mile drive northwest of Columbia.

This story was originally published April 9, 2024 at 5:50 PM with the headline "Lottery player shocked by big win during lunch break in SC. ‘Told my boss to pinch me’."