A Lumberton, NC, man only buys his lottery tickets from Wayne Hayes at Wayne’s BP in Dillon. Why? According to the player he feels luckier in South Carolina. Now he has proof. When Hayes checked the man’s Palmetto Cash 5 ticket, he knew right away it was special. The ticket was worth $200,000. Hayes had some convincing to do, but the player finally began to realize what he had won. “I’m happier about it than you are,” joked the retailer. “I don’t believe it,” said the winner, who did not want to release his name. “I guess I’ll believe it when I see the check.” Retired from the military, the winner picked his own numbers for the Monday, November 1 Palmetto Cash 5 drawing and matched all five numbers drawn (1, 6, 7, 10, and 11). He paid the additional $1 for Power-Up, which multiplied his $100,000 winnings by “2” to $200,000. The Lottery had 6,378 other winners in Monday night’s draw. “I just like to play more odds than evens,” he shared. “My philosophy is simple, if I have a $1 that’s not committed to anything else, I will play.” For selling the ticket, Wayne’s BP in Dillon received $2,000. Every retailer that sells a claimed ticket of $10,000 or more earns a 1 percent retailer commission, capped at $50,000. Hayes is admittedly happy to have shared in the winning moment and was glad it was one of his regular customers. “Not sure when he’ll be back, but he sure was happy when he left,” Hayes said.
