If you stop by Gene's One Stop in Jonesville you can easily catch up on all the latest town gossip. But lately the store itself has been the center of gossip ever since 19-year-old Cassandra Ramsey won the top lottery prize in the "Bags of Cash" scratch-off game last week.
"Everybody was in shock," said store employee Kris Whitfield. "People were buying tickets like they couldn't get enough tickets."
And they all wanted to know how they could meet the $100,000 winner. One customer jokingly said he was her new boyfriend.
When Cassandra scratched off the numbers on her ticket she first thought she had only won $1000, but her mother shouted out that she had won much more.
"I said, 'Cassandra baby that says $100,000'," said Tracy Jones. "She went to screaming and jumping. She didn't know what to do."
Jones works at Gene's One Stop and couldn't believe her own daughter won money from tickets she sells to customers. Ramsey said her dream finally came true after a year-and-a-half of buying two scratch-off tickets each day
"I was excited, scared, and all the emotions mixed up in one," Ramsey said.
Ramsey's boyfriend, Justin Holcomb, didn't believe it when Ramsey's mother called to tell him the news.
"I thought they was just joking," said Holcomb. "I didn't believe them until I got back to the store and saw the ticket for myself."
Jones held onto the ticket until Monday when they cashed it in at the South Carolina Education Lottery office in Greenville. After a chunk of change was taken out for taxes, Cassandra took home a $68,000 check.
"It means a house, car paid off, and a good life for my child," said Ramsey.
And it means this tiny store is not just a place where people gather to gossip, but this time it's the source of the story.
South Carolina Education Lottery spokesperson Stephanie Hemminghaus said Gene's One Stop received a one percent selling bonus of $1,000 for selling the ticket.
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