COLUMBIA, SC – Armed with a giant scraper, Walterloo resident, Candace Bouknight, couldn’t contain her excitement as she furiously scratched an oversized Summer Escape SM 2008 ticket. This was the moment Bouknight and four other finalists in the second-chance Grand Prize event had waited for. What amazing prizes would their tickets reveal?

“I can’t believe I’m here,” Bouknight said. The big reveal took place July 4 at the Greenville Drive stadium. The 34-year-old player soon discovered she was the first Grand Prize winner in the South Carolina Education Lottery’s Summer Escape SM 2008 promotion. Her prize package, worth more than $60,000, included a Ford F-150® truck, a Carnival® cruise for four people, and 500,000 US Airways airline miles! “I’m so happy! I can’t wait to drive my new truck and take my family on the cruise and travel,” Bouknight said.

Second and third place finalists also took home prizes. Delbert Rice, of Wagener, and Theodore Harrison, of Salters, each won $3,000, and Esther Pino, of West Columbia, and Arlene Powers, of North Charleston, collected $1,000 each. An additional 1,200 players received prize packages.