Losing lottery ticket turns into life-changing prize for SC man. Here’s how
Buying a losing lottery ticket proved lucky for a South Carolina man when it came up a winner in a “second chance promotion” by the SC Education Lottery.
The $10 ticket was in Magnificent Millions, a scratch-off game that offers losers a chance to win $1 million if they enter the numbers off their otherwise-useless ticket.
The drawing was held July 31, and the winner beat odds of about 1 in 5 million. (That’s because more than than 5 million entries were received, officials said.)
A man living in Fountain Inn was informed by phone that he’d won the prize, according to an Aug. 29 news release.
His name was not released, but lottery officials say he was understandably stunned and expressed “a huge sense of relief.”
“I got really quiet,” he told lottery officials, describing the phone conversation. “It’s changed everything for me. ... It’s beautiful.”
After collecting his prize money, the winner was able to pay off his house, then paid off a family member’s house and hopes to help other people, lottery officials said.
The second-chance drawing brought Magnificent Millions to its official end. The game had four top prizes of $1 million and all were claimed, the lottery reports. Odds of winning a top prize were 1 in 1,560,000.
Fountain Inn is about an 85-mile drive northwest from Columbia.
This story was originally published August 29, 2025 at 1:47 PM with the headline "Losing lottery ticket turns into life-changing prize for SC man. Here’s how."