Lottery player keeps his cool over life-changing win. ‘Didn’t let it shake me up’
A lottery player scored a massive prize — but he’s keeping his cool.
“I didn’t let it shake me up,” the winner told the South Carolina Education Lottery.
The man is “taking it all in stride” after learning his scratch-off ticket was worth $2 million. He beat 1-in-1.08 million odds to score a top prize in the Double Up! game, lottery officials wrote in a Sept. 26 news release.
The winner spent $20 on his lucky ticket at a Harris Teeter supermarket in Summerville, a roughly 25-mile drive northwest from the popular tourist destination of Charleston. He plays the lottery when he shops for groceries, and that routine paid off big time.
The man, who wasn’t identified publicly, isn’t a stranger to winning. He got a $10,000 windfall years ago, but that paled in comparison to the life-changing nature of his latest prize, lottery officials wrote in their release and in an email to McClatchy News.
“I’m buying a house,” the winner said. “I’ve been very lucky.”
The man, who kept $1.4 million after taxes, had a different reaction than some lottery winners. In Maryland, an Army veteran tried to stay calm about his prize — but didn’t think he could hold in his emotions for long, McClatchy News reported in 2023.
This story was originally published September 26, 2025 at 2:35 PM with the headline "Lottery player keeps his cool over life-changing win. ‘Didn’t let it shake me up’."
