Daughter checks mom’s lottery ticket. Prize leaves their family ‘jumping up and down’
A daughter checked her mom’s lottery ticket — and the prize left the South Carolina family jumping for joy.
The lottery player said she was on vacation when she left her Powerball ticket on a nightstand. Her daughter stumbled upon it and noticed the ticket matched several numbers that were picked in a recent drawing.
“I (thought) she must be looking at my ticket wrong,” the mother told the S.C. Education Lottery in an Aug. 23 news release.
But the mom, who was sitting in a rocking chair when her daughter left her in disbelief, had been mistaken. She checked the ticket for herself and realized it was worth $200,000.
“The family was jumping up and down in excitement and went out to dinner to celebrate the big win,” lottery officials wrote.
The vacation took the unexpected turn after the woman went to a Hot Spot convenience store in Easley, roughly 15 miles west of Greenville. While there, she spent $3 on a Powerball ticket for the July 17 drawing.
At the time, the estimated jackpot topped $900 million. Though the South Carolina mom missed out on the jackpot prize, she still beat odds of more than 1 in 913,000 to win big.
“It was an absolute surprise,” said the woman, who wasn’t identified in the news release. She kept $139,000 after taxes, lottery spokesperson Holli Armstrong told McClatchy News in an email.
Lottery wins have sparked celebrations before. In North Carolina, a store “went nuts” over a customer’s big prize, and another windfall sent a player’s mom “jumping up and down,” McClatchy News reported.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREWhen gambling is more than a game
Gambling is designed to be a source of entertainment.
If you or a loved one shows signs of gambling addiction, you can seek help by calling the national gambling hotline at 1-800-522-4700 or visiting the National Council on Problem Gambling website.
This story was originally published August 24, 2023 at 5:01 AM with the headline "Daughter checks mom’s lottery ticket. Prize leaves their family ‘jumping up and down’."
