Winning $400 Million Powerball Ticket Claimed in South Carolina
Sept. 23, 2013— -- The single winning Powerball ticket for last week's staggering $400 million jackpot -- one of the largest ever in the game -- was turned in today, according to South Carolina lottery officials.
The newly minted millionaire, who has chosen to remain anonymous, is from the Columbia, S.C., area, according to a news release issued by the South Carolina Educational Lottery.
Proving that perhaps some people have all the luck, the winner told lottery officials that it was only the second time he had ever played the game.
The winner told officials he purchased the ticket when he stopped for gas at the Murphy Express last Wednesday in Lexington, S.C. He said he went inside the store because his wife asked him to pick up hot dog buns.
The store didn't have the buns, but the man said he saw the swelling Powerball jackpot and decided to buy $20 worth of tickets.
The winning numbers were 7, 10, 22, 32, 35 and Powerball 19.
Lottery officials declined to say whether the winner opted to take the $223 million lump sum or had chosen a 29-year annuity.
"I can't tell you what it feels like to know someone has been that fortunate and that lucky," Paula Harper Bethea, executive director of the South Carolina Educational Lottery said last week, calling the win a "wonderful shot in the arm for our state."
The odds of matching all six numbers are about 1 in 175 million, according to the game's website.
Powerball ticket prices doubled from $1 to $2 in January 2012, accounting for the swelling jackpots and tons of media attention.
Powerball is played in 43 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
