Matthew LaChance needed some outside confirmation that what he thought had happened, had indeed just happened.
“I had to call a couple people to come look at the ticket and make sure I’m reading it correctly,” LaChance said.
Indeed he was. The numbers in question adorned a lottery ticket LaChance had purchased as part of a bundle of them at the Corner Market in Destrehan last month. This particular ticket was a winner, scoring a Powerball victory of $50,000 for the March 6 drawing.
The ticket matched four of the five numbers along with the Powerball. The drawn numbers were 06-10-21-35-46, Powerball: 23, PowerPlay: 2X.
LaChance, a Kenner resident, was buying the tickets for an eight-person pool of co-workers who will now split the money. They work in the Destrehan area, hence why the Corner Market was LaChance’s venue of choice.
“I stop there pretty frequently … it wasn’t random,” he said.
But it was plenty fortunate. LaChance said the office pool dates back all the way to the 90s, though he took the reins of it only just recently.
“This is the first big winner in that pool,” said LaChance, who said he bought $44 worth of tickets that day. “I’ve never won anything remotely so big, personally. I was pretty shocked.”
LaChance was in the midst of a work shift when he learned he had won, at 4:45 a.m. He said he had to summon some strength to not call and wake his wife to tell her the big news then and there.
[pullquote]“The whole day it felt like … is this real? It’s a kind of surreal, amazing feeling” – Matthew LaChance[/pullquote]“I wanted to call her immediately. Even when splitting it eight ways, that’s a lot of money to suddenly win in a pool,” he said. “She couldn’t believe it when we did finally talk. The whole day, it felt like … is this real? It’s a kind of surreal, amazing feeling.”
He said he and his co-workers in the pool usually opt to buy in when the jackpot rises to a large amount. At the time, the estimated jackpot win would have been worth $381 million.
While LaChance’s ticket produced a prize that found a home, another is still in limbo.
A $50,000 ticket purchased at Boutte’s Champion’s Express Mart in October is set to expire within the week, on April 22.
The winning ticket matched four of the five white-ball numbers drawn and the Powerball to win $50,000. The winning numbers for the Oct. 24 drawing were 03-21-45-53-56 and the Powerball number was 22.
The holder of the winning ticket has until 5 p.m. on the date of expiration to claim the prize, subject to the Lottery’s hours of operation, according to the Louisiana Lottery website.
Winners of the Lottery’s draw-style games must claim their prize within 180 days of the drawing. After prizes have passed their redemption deadlines, they are deposited into the Lottery’s unclaimed prize fund, which is returned to players in the form of increased payouts on scratch-off games and player promotions.
Prizes greater than $600 may be claimed at any of the Lottery’s five regional offices located throughout the state or at Lottery headquarters in Baton Rouge. Call (225) 297-2003 for information, or if out of state, call (225) 297-2003.
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