Bennettsville man wins $250,000 in SC Lottery game
Published: September 2, 2009
Updated: September 3, 2009
Bennettsville resident, Dipankumar Patel, has thousands of reasons to smile now. He won $250,000 instantly when his Cash Blowout ticket revealed a top prize!
“I’m very excited,” the lucky player said when he claimed his prize at the Columbia Claims Center.
Patel purchased his winning ticket at Boulevard Express, located at 331 Cottingham Boulevard, in Bennettsville. The retailer received a $2,500 selling bonus.
Since the Lottery’s inception in 2002, the General Assembly has appropriated more than $2.2 billion for educational purposes through fiscal year 2010.
Approximately 97 cents of every dollar spent by players on the South Carolina Education Lottery is returned to the state in the form of contributions to education, prizes, retailer commissions, and payment to contractors for goods and services
Reader Reactions
I was at FDTC for 3 1/2 years, and every semester except summer, the lottery paid $997 of my tuition, leaving me with only about $500-$700 to pay out of pocket, not including my books. Lottery helped me out a LOT. You cannot say that it doesn’t help college students out, because if it weren’t for the lottery i would have a LOT of student loan debt. See, both of my parents work very descent jobs. We were what you would call “middle class”. My parents didn’t make ENOUGH money to pay for my school and they made TOO much for me to get government help. We were caught in the middle, but isnt that how it goes? The ones who actually need the help are the ones out there busting their tails, while the ones who GET the help are out having more and more babies just to get a free check at the begining of the month, and a buncha tax refunds at the end of the year, for children that everyone else pays for?, anyway, thats beside the point.. So I know a lot of kids who got lottery assistance and has helped them. There are certain qualifications to get this assistance though, you must be a full time student and have atleast 12 credit hours a semester to get the full $997. And if you went atleast 6 during the summer semester it would pay about $500 I think. Anyway all in all I am saying that I am 100% for the lottery because it helped me out. And I will keep buying lottery tickets, to help students out who were in the same situation as I was. But I guarantee none of you that are against the lottery would turn down any free money that was given to you by someone who was lucky enough to win…
This particular instance isn’t a scam because Mr.Patel doesn’t own the store that sold the winning ticket. This is a huge problem though for many states that sell scratch off tickets. You will have the owner give winning tickets to family members who will then go claim the tickets. But, most states also have task forces that investigate this type of thing to ensure that every winner is “LEGIT.“ Personally I think there is no LEGIT winner in our state’s lottery and that the system is no better than video poker. These stores that sell tickets have booths set up so you can sit there and buy, buy, buy and scratch, scratch, scratch. The concept is still the same. There are still junkies that spend massive amounts of money hoping that they will be the next big winner. They talk about the contributions to education but very few college students I know had even had the lottery assist with their tuition.
AND they tell you not to get hooked on the lottery then turn around and put out scratch tickets that make you want to play again why not just say win or lose? They also make some tickets and games like mega match so complicated hoping you might not think its a winner and throw it away! Where is all the UNCLAIMED money?
Any whole pack of lottery tickets is $300 I know people who buy them like that and most of the time they lose money or win very little! its all about the “chance” to win big The whole lottery is a scam with the odds stacked so high against you its just crazy BUT people still play and still win but a very high percentage LOSE! There is no way mr Patel could scam the lottery! What gets me is you never hear of what happens to the taxes on all the winnings and why we dont get tax breaks because of them like other states do?
Well if you Google lottery scams you will see what i am speaking of. I am not saying that is what Mr Patel did but it sure puts distaste in my Mouth when it comes to buying scratch off tickets. Odds on the back of the ticket are usually 4-1 and for me if three people came in and scratched off the ticket and did not win you bet i am buying the 4th one.
Why do you hope that! thats perfectly OK!
I sure hope Mr Patel does not own a gas station that sells lottery tickets. Especially if the winning ticket came from his store.
This money will help Mr Patel with his motel and gas station!
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