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COLUMBIA —For the third time in a little over a month, purchasing a lottery ticket has paid off for a Union County resident.

In a statement released Tuesday morning, Holli Armstrong, public relations coordinator for the South Carolina Education Lottery, announced that a Union County woman she described as “a single mom” is “celebrating a fresh start thanks to a $100,000 lottery win.”

Armonstrong stated that the woman, who wished to remain anonymous, told lottery officials that she’d purchased the $5 Muscle Car MoneyTM instant game ticket at the Hot Spot on the Jonesville-Lockhart Highway while on her way home from work last week.

“Beautiful,” the woman said, summing up the emotional moment when she beat the 1 in 312,000 odds to win the life changing prize.

“I always knew I was going to win,” she told lottery officials while waiting for her check in Columbia. “It’s still unbelievable.”

Armstrong states that the woman told lottery official that because she works 12-hour shifts she’d missed out on many of her young daughter’s firsts. The woman said that’s all going to change as she plans to use the money she won to start her own business so she can spend more time with her family. She added that she’s also starting a college fund for her daughter.

For selling the claimed ticket, Armstrong said Hot Spot #2012 received a commission of $1,000.

Armstrong added that one top prize of $100,000 remains in the $5 Muscle Car MoneyTM game.

Other Winners

The working mother is the third Union County resident in a little over a month to win a large prize playing one of the various education lottery games.

In May, Armstrong announced that a Union County man had won $100,000 on a Money Maker scratch-off ticket purchased from the Kangaroo Express #1509 on South Pine Street in Spartanburg. Like the working mother who won $100,000 playing the $5 Muscle Car MoneyTM instant game, the man declined to have his identity revealed to the public, choosing instead to tell only a few family members of his good fortune.

The odds of winning $100,000 on a $5 Money Maker ticket are 1 in 480,000.

For selling the winning ticket, the Kangaroo Express store also received a $1,000 commission.

Also in May, Armstrong announced that a Union homemaker had won $10,000 after purchasing a Junior Jumbo Bucks lottery ticker for $1 from Li’l Cricket #807 at 616 W. Main St., Union. The woman told lottery officials it was only the second lottery ticket she’d ever bought. She said that when she first scratched off the ticket in the store’s parking lot she didn’t realize she’d won until her 10-year-old son started jumping up and down and yelling that she’d won. The woman said she was going to use her winnings to pay bills and take a family vacation.

Li’l Cricket #807 received a $100 commission for selling the winning lottery ticket.

Armstrong said the odds of winning $10,000 on a Junior Jumbo Bucks lottery ticket are 1 in 750,000.

Since the start of the Lottery in 2002, more than one million college scholarships and grants have been awarded to South Carolina’s students. In all, more than $2.8 billion has been transferred to support educational programs in the Palmetto State.