A woman in South Carolina, USA, won a prize of US$303,000 (equivalent to over R$1.5 million) after accidentally receiving the wrong lottery ticket. On 4 September, the woman entered a supermarket in Darlington to buy a ticket for Palmetto Cash 5, the official draw of the South Carolina Education Lottery. When paying at the till, the cashier handed her the wrong ticket. Realising the mistake, he offered to replace it with the one she had originally chosen, but she declined and decided to keep the “wrong” ticket, which contained random, automatically selected numbers.
The mistake turned out to be a stroke of luck. The numbers printed on the “wrong” ticket were exactly those drawn in the winning combination. In the end, the woman took home US$303,000. According to the state lottery, the odds of matching all five numbers in this game are 1 in 850,668.
The winner chose to remain anonymous. In her statement, she said, “I made a quick decision” when she accepted the random ticket, noting that her luck came from that impulsive choice. She also mentioned that she plans to use the money to make improvements to her home.
Palmetto Cash 5
To understand the story better, it’s worth knowing how the game works. Palmetto Cash 5 is a lottery game operated by the South Carolina Education Lottery. It works as follows:
- Players choose 5 numbers from a given range.
- Since 3 March 2024, the game has used a 5/42 matrix — meaning numbers between 1 and 42.
- Each play costs US$2 and includes a built-in multiplier that can increase smaller prizes by 2×, 3×, 5×, or 10×.
- The minimum jackpot prize is US$100,000 and rolls over when there’s no winner.
- The odds of winning the top prize (matching all 5 numbers) are 1 in 850,668.
- Smaller prizes are awarded for matching 4, 3, or even 2 numbers — for instance, matching 4 numbers earns US$300 in the standard version.
Another important detail: winners have 180 days from the draw date to claim their prize. If they fail to do so, the money returns to the state lottery fund to be used for public purposes.
Winning the lottery is a dream shared by many, but receiving a big prize also requires caution – such as proper tax planning, choosing between a lump sum or annuity payment (both affected by interest and inflation), hiring financial and legal advisers for asset protection, and maintaining privacy and security.
Millionaires of Brazil
In Brazil, the most famous and traditional lottery is Mega-Sena. Draws take place frequently, and the ever-growing jackpots keep players engaged — especially when there’s news of a winning ticket sold “in the neighbouring town”.
A recent example comes from Porto Alegre, in southern Brazil, where a local resident matched all six numbers in draw number 2,920 of the Mega-Sena, taking home R$80.68 million. The player spent just R$6 on a simple ticket purchased at a lottery shop in the Azenha neighbourhood.
The winning numbers were: 19 – 58 – 16 – 12 – 31 – 08.
In the same draw, 117 tickets matched five numbers (the quina) and each won R$28,705.88. Another 6,677 tickets matched four numbers (the quadra), winning R$829.13 each.
Here’s how Mega-Sena works:
- Players choose 6 numbers between 1 and 60.
- Prizes are awarded to those who match 6 (sena), 5 (quina), or 4 (quadra) numbers.
- Winners have 90 days to claim their prizes; otherwise, the funds are transferred to Brazil’s National Treasury and allocated to social programmes.
- A portion of all lottery revenue is used to support social and educational initiatives across the country.
This article was first published in Portuguese on 6 October 2025.
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