Ehrhardt Resident Claims $5,000 My Money Maker Scratch-Off Prize

Ehrhardt Service Center at 13366 Broxton Bridge Road put Bamberg County on the South Carolina Education Lottery's top-prize list for the week ending March 20, 2026, after an Ehrhardt resident claimed a $5,000 My Money Maker scratch-off prize there.

That $5,000 sits at a precise and consequential tax threshold. Federal law requires lottery agencies to withhold 24 percent only from prizes exceeding $5,000, so the winner collected the gross amount upfront minus South Carolina's mandatory state income tax withholding, which kicks in on all lottery prizes above $500. At the state's 2025 top marginal rate of 6 percent, the immediate state cut comes to roughly $300. The full $5,000 is still reportable as ordinary income at tax time: for a single filer in the 22 percent federal bracket, that adds approximately $1,100 in federal tax liability, putting the estimated real take-home at around $3,600. Actual results vary with total annual income and filing status.

The Broxton Bridge Road store had an unusual stretch with the lottery that week. SCEL's public claim records show Ehrhardt Service Center appearing in three separate prize entries across March 19 and 20: a $1,500 Palmetto Cash 5 claim on the 19th, then the $5,000 My Money Maker and a separate $600 Palmetto Cash 5 claim on the 20th. Three claims, $7,100 in combined prizes, from one rural Ehrhardt retailer in 48 hours.

Those ticket sales feed a funding channel that flows directly into South Carolina classrooms. The SC Education Lottery raised $592 million for statewide education in fiscal year 2024, with proceeds deposited into the Education Lottery Account and redistributed by the General Assembly. Since the lottery launched in January 2002, more than $1.1 billion has been appropriated to K-12 programs statewide, covering the K-5 Technology Initiative, more than 2,600 school bus purchases, and Education Accountability Act requirements for math, science, reading, and social studies in the early grades.

For Bamberg County students heading to college, the lottery's most direct impact arrives through scholarships: the LIFE Scholarship, Palmetto Fellows, SC HOPE, and the Needs-Based Grant are all lottery-funded programs. County public schools and the Bamberg County library also receive annual appropriations calculated under a General Assembly distribution formula tied to enrollment and population.

The $5,000 My Money Maker claim was the largest single prize listed for Bamberg County on SCEL's March 19-20 report, which covered winners from 12 other counties including Aiken, Richland, Horry, Dorchester, Kershaw, York, Spartanburg, Marion, Chester, Saluda, Lexington, and Darlington. Among all retailers on that week's list, only Ehrhardt Service Center was named three times.