Bamberg driver wins $75,000 lottery prize after doctor visit stop

Dejon Johnson’s decision to pull into the EnMarket on Main Highway in Bamberg while driving a relative to a doctor’s appointment ended with a $75,000 Cash Lines prize, the first top-prize win in the $3 scratch-off game. The South Carolina Education Lottery’s prize-remaining page was updated at 10:00:02 a.m. on June 4, giving players a public snapshot of how much of the game was still on the board as Johnson’s ticket moved from a routine stop to a top prize.

Johnson called the win “pure luck” and said he was still trying to process it. The odds of landing the $75,000 prize were 1 in 528,000, and three top prizes remained in the Cash Lines game after his ticket hit. The EnMarket that sold the winning ticket also received a $750 commission, a small but real payoff for the local retailer that rang up the lucky stop.

The larger question for Bamberg County is what the lottery gives back beyond a single windfall. State education officials say lottery proceeds supplement public education rather than replace local tax revenue, and the lottery says more than 2.8 million scholarships have been awarded to South Carolina students since 2002. That funding reaches residents through need-based and merit-based aid, including Palmetto Fellows awards that can pay up to $6,700 in a freshman year and up to $7,500 in later years, with enhancements that can raise annual support to as much as $10,000 for eligible math and science students.

For Bamberg families, that means the lottery’s public value is not limited to jackpots posted on a scratch-off page. The lottery’s county-by-county distribution tool tracks net proceeds through fiscal year 2024-2025, and the state’s higher-education aid is available only to South Carolina residents. In a county where every education dollar matters, Johnson’s win is the headline, but the system’s broader return is measured in scholarships, grants, and the public ledger that shows where the money goes.