If $1.5B lottery winner doesn't surface soon, SC could have less money to spend
The winner still has three months to turn over the ticket to state lottery officials and become instantly mega rich. But three months have gone by with no word from whoever bought the winning ticket at a convenience store in Simpsonville.
“We’re starting to get nervous about whether that $61 million is realistic,” Frank Rainwater, director of the state Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office, told legislators during a briefing on state revenue estimates Tuesday.
If no one surfaces before the state’s economic advisers meet in the middle of next month, they will consider reducing projected surpluses so legislators don’t count on an iffy $61 million when they craft their budget proposals for the fiscal year starting July 1.
Currently, the $61 million is part of a half-billion dollars in projected surpluses meant for one-time expenses.
That $61 million could cover agencies’ requests for new voting machines or new school textbooks or prison cell door upgrades.

