$5 lottery ticket turns into thrilling win in South Carolina. ‘I jumped for joy’
A lottery player spent $5 on a ticket — and won a prize worth celebrating.
“When I scratched it, I jumped for joy,” the winner told the South Carolina Education Lottery. “I was really, really happy and relieved.”
The lucky woman couldn’t contain herself after learning she won $200,000 from a ticket purchased at a Food Lion supermarket in Roebuck, a roughly 30-mile drive east from downtown Greenville. While buying groceries, she felt drawn to the Clemson Jackpot game.
The scratch-off tickets are orange, a nod to the Clemson University Tigers. But the reason the woman played the game is “surprising,” lottery officials wrote Sept. 11 in a news release.
“I am not a Clemson fan, and I don’t even watch football,” said the winner, who wasn’t identified publicly. “I got it because orange is my favorite color.”
It turns out, the woman beat 1-in-520,000 odds to score one of the game’s top prizes. She kept $140,000 after taxes, lottery spokesperson Holli Armstrong told McClatchy News via email.
It’s not the first time the Clemson Jackpot game has had an unexpected winner. Two other lottery players who aren’t fans of the school bought tickets that made them much richer, McClatchy News reported.
This story was originally published September 12, 2025 at 9:50 AM with the headline "$5 lottery ticket turns into thrilling win in South Carolina. ‘I jumped for joy’."
