Back-to-Back Lotto Jackpots from New Orleans Area Claimed

Two back-to-back Lotto jackpots – one worth $400,000 from the Oct. 27 drawing and a second grossing $325,000 for the Nov. 10 drawing – were recently claimed at Lottery headquarters in Baton Rouge.

The first was sold in Slidell to winners James and Janet Jones of Gulfport, Miss., who were recently in Louisiana for a wedding in Natchitoches. Before returning home, they stopped at a local retailer to redeem a few Lottery tickets winning smaller prizes. While in the store, they remembered that they hadn’t checked their most recent Lotto tickets. Soon afterward, the couple headed toward Baton Rouge after being told they needed to redeem their ticket at Lottery headquarters because of the prize amount.

“We saw that the jackpot was hit at our store,” Janet explained, “but we didn’t know we were the winners until we were here!”

The Jones had purchased their Lotto ticket during a group motor bike trip to Louisiana at their favorite Lottery retailer Indian Village Trading Post.

When the Jones’ friends asked to stop at a nearby location to get tickets, James requested they ride on to Indian Village for their quick-pick tickets. “It’s a really clean gas station,” Janet explained. “Plus, it’s on a back road that we love to ride on.”

The Slidell store received a one-time bonus of $4,000, which is 1 percent of the prize, for selling the jackpot winning ticket. The Jones matched all six numbers, 14-18-25-27-29-33 during the Oct. 27 Lotto drawing.

Two short weeks later, New Orleans resident Randall Hayes matched all six numbers during the Nov. 10 Lotto drawing to win the $325,000 jackpot.

“I’ve never won anything in my life,” Hayes explained. The father-of-two purchased his Lotto ticket at Circle K #5200 located off Highway 51 in LaPlace.

The Circle K store will also receive a 1 percent selling bonus of $3,250. The winning numbers for the Nov. 10 drawing were 04-05-06-17-19-24.

All the winners indicated they planned to use the windfall to travel. “I’m hoping to go to Dubai,” Hayes said, “or possibly spend a weekend in Vegas.”

The Jones explained that as business owners, they will first hire an additional employee to cut back on the hours they are having to spend in the office. After that, they plan to do something for their children, and finally, take a month-long vacation in their motorhome.