As the next drawing for Mega Millions lottery jackpot nears, Palmetto State residents are hoping to take home the estimated $1.15 billion before 2024 comes to a close.
On Friday, Dec. 27 at 11 p.m., lottery players will get one of two more chances to win the jackpot, which increases each time a winner is not chosen. The last jackpot was won in Texas in September, totaling $810 million. According to a release from the Mega Millions Consortium, 2024 has marked the fewest wins in a single year since the game began in 2002.
Has a South Carolina resident won the lottery before?
If a South Carolina resident wins, it would mark the second time someone from the state took home more than $1 billion from the game. The first occurred in October 2018, when a woman from Simpsonville won more than $1.5 billion. Her win was the first time the Mega Millions jackpot had exceeded one billion, and to date holds the second-highest amount of money won in the game.
If a winning ticket is pulled in the next drawing, the total amount of money - $1.15 billion - would be the game's sixth-highest jackpot.
The Simpsonville woman who won $1.5 billion in 2018 elected to remain anonymous after her win, prompting rumors and speculation about her identity. She purchased her ticket from KC Mart on Lee Vaughn Road, and opted for a $877,784,124 lump sum. At the time, it was the largest jackpot in the nation's history.
On Thursday morning, residents purchased tickets from a Power Trac in Anderson. Luke Dicce said that he doesn't believe the winner will receive the full $1 billion, but hundreds of millions of dollars would still be a big change.
"I'd be paying a lot of bills and give money to family and friends," he said.
According to the South Carolina Education Lottery website, odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350.
Where does the money go?
Money won in the lottery by a South Carolina resident does result in a mass amount of cash, but part of the winnings also go to the retailer who sold the winning ticket, state and federal taxes, and an education fund for the state. About 25% of the total winnings are used for state education funding.
South Carolina launched its Education Lottery in 2002. Since then, more than $8 billion has been transferred to the Education Lottery Account (ELA). The majority of those funds have gone to higher education institutions and scholarships. According to the fiscal year 2024 annual report, $590.5 million went to the ELA for the operating year. In 2024, the SCEL netted $2,382,791,731 in total revenue, a roughly 0.7% decrease from the previous year. Meanwhile, operating costs increased by $1.6 million. In the current fiscal year, so far, South Carolinians have spent $968,741,134 on lottery tickets, including more than $27 million on Mega Millions.
Winners have 180 days to claim their prizes, which they can receive in a lump sum or annually over multiple years.
Based on data from the SCEL website,1,291 residents in Greenville, Spartanburg, or Anderson counties have won at least $1,000 in the past three months. Only 61 tickets have resulted in winnings of $10,000 or more.
Have any Greenville, Spartanburg or Anderson locations provided multiple winning tickets recently?
SCEL provides data for the past three months of winnings online. According to the most recent data for Greenville, Spartanburg, and Anderson, the largest amount of money won from the lottery was $200,000, won at Garden Spot #4 at 601 E. Lee Road in Taylors. Nearly a month earlier, another ticket from Garden Spot #4 was a $10,000 win.
On Oct. 18, three tickets from the Pick 4 game, each totaling $25,000, were declared winners after being purchased from Sai Mart at 498 East Blackstock Road in Spartanburg. Sai Mart had a fourth win in the three-month period, amounting to $10,000, about a week later.
Corner Stop #98 at 201 John B White Boulevard, Paras Point at 2904 Wade Hampton Boulevard, and GT Express Mart at 4514 White Horse Road in Greenville had two $10,000 wins.
If I win the lottery, what do I do?
Lottery drawings are broadcast on partner stations at set times, depending on which game you're playing. Mega Millions drawings are held on Tuesdays and Fridays at 11 p.m.
Winning tickets of any amount can be redeemed at the Columbia Claims Center, located at 1303 Assembly Street. Winnings of $100,000 or less can be redeemed via mail using an official claim form, which can be sent to the SC Education Lottery, P.O. Box 11039, Columbia, SC 29211-1039.
More detailed information about how to play the lottery can be found at the SCEL website.
Photographer Ken Ruinard contributed to this report.