We now know that a lot of people in South Carolina have the same strategy for the Pick 4 lottery game — and it just won them a lot of money.
Nearly 1,400 people won the South Carolina Education Lottery’s Pick 4 midday drawing Saturday with the same set of numbers: 2-2-2-2. It was a record number of winners for the Pick 4 and a record payout, the Lottery announced in a statement.
Lottery spokeswoman Holli Armstrong told CNN that people started lining up to claim their prizes around 7:30 a.m. Monday, about an hour before the payout office in Columbia opened.
The Lottery handed out fans and water as the winners waited in the Southern heat. Depending on how much players spent on the tickets, and how many they purchased, payouts were anywhere between $2,000 and $5,000.
One winner cashed out with $80,000 after buying 16 tickets with the lucky two’s combo.
The drawing cost the Lottery more than $3.4 million, officials said.
Armstrong said the lines got busier around lunchtime as people started arriving from across the state. The office paid out more than $1 million by the end of the day.
She said there was also a line Tuesday but it was a lot smaller in comparison.
The new number crushes the 652 wins the last time quadruple 2s were drawn, on July 8, 2012.
