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South Carolina man uses idea he saw on TV to win $100K in Powerball

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina man used a hint from a television series devoted to lottery winners to earn his own big payday.

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The man, whose identity has not been revealed, has won more than $100,000 after being inspired by an episode of the TLC show, “Lottery Changed My Life,” South Carolina Education Lottery officials said in a news release on Tuesday.

That includes a $100,000 jackpot from a Powerball ticket in the promotion’s May 28 drawing.

The man used the reality TV show’s experiment and tailored it to his needs, spending $25 per week for three months playing the lottery, the news release stated.

He won $500 during his first week. In his seventh week, the man won $100,000 from a Powerball ticket he bought at a Kwik Fill store in Hanahan, located north of Charleston.

”I didn’t even know how to play Powerball,” the man said in a statement.

Fortunately, his wife did.

The man originally thought he had matched two numbers, but his wife took a look at the ticket and saw that he had matched four of the five white balls and a red Powerball number. That was worth $50,000 and beat odds of 1 in 913,129, lottery officials said.

Because he spent an extra $1 for PowerPlay, the man doubled his winnings to $100,000 when a “2″ multiplier was drawn, lottery officials said.

The winner said he has used some of his earnings to buy a car.

He’s still spending $25 a week on lottery tickets.

”I’m going to finish out the three months,” he said in a statement.